Lost city of Atlantis, swamped by tsunami, may be found

Yahoo News ^ | 12 mar 2011 | Zach Howard

[mandaladon]

NORTHAMPTON, Mass (Reuters) – A U.S.-led research team may have finally located the lost city of Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami thousands of years ago in mud flats in southern Spain.

"This is the power of tsunamis," head researcher Richard Freund told Reuters.

"It is just so hard to understand that it can wipe out 60 miles inland, and that's pretty much what we're talking about," said Freund, a University of Hartford, Connecticut, professor who lead an international team searching for the true site of Atlantis.

To solve the age-old mystery, the team used a satellite photo of a suspected submerged city to find the site just north of Cadiz, Spain. There, buried in the vast marshlands of the Dona Ana Park, they believe that they pinpointed the ancient, multi-ringed dominion known as Atlantis.

The team of archeologists and geologists in 2009 and 2010 used a combination of deep-ground radar, digital mapping, and underwater technology to survey the site.

Freund's discovery in central Spain of a strange series of "memorial cities," built in Atlantis' image by its refugees after the city's likely destruction by a tsunami, gave researchers added proof and confidence, he said.

Atlantis residents who did not perish in the tsunami fled inland and built new cities there, he added.

The team's findings will be unveiled on Sunday in "Finding Atlantis," a new National Geographic Channel special.

While it is hard to know with certainty that the site in Spain in Atlantis, Freund said the "twist" of finding the memorial cities makes him confident Atlantis was buried in the mud flats on Spain's southern coast.

[mandaladon]

"We found something that no one else has ever seen before, which gives it a layer of credibility, especially for archeology, that makes a lot more sense," Freund said.

Greek philosopher Plato wrote about Atlantis some 2,600 years ago, describing it as "an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Hercules," as the Straits of Gibraltar were known in antiquity. Using Plato's detailed account of Atlantis as a map, searches have focused on the Mediterranean and Atlantic as the best possible sites for the city.

Tsunamis in the region have been documented for centuries, Freund says. One of the largest was a reported 10-story tidal wave that slammed Lisbon in November, 1755.

Interesting stuff !!!

[Perdogg]

ping!

[Gator113]

Thanks for the heads up, I’ll look for the special.

[chesty_puller]

I know people are going to reply "again?". I don't care, I love this stuff! Keep it coming.

Semper Fi

[engrpat]

Isn’t one of the History/Science channels having a special on this in the very near future? Any one know?

[Jeff Chandler]

I know people are going to reply "again?"

No, you must be thinking of the other Atlantis.

[Gertie]

Wow!

[FrogMom]

Ping!

[Krankor]

Photo of some of the inhabitants

[SevenofNine]

I think national geographic channel sponder this something like this

BTW I think to safe to say this guy didn’t do it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEO-FTh_pBI&feature=player_embedded

[FormerACLUmember]

I call BS on one of the endless number of Atlantis hoaxes.

However, there is an ancient lost city of Tartessos in Southern Spain, which traded with Greece, Lebanon, and is even mentioned in the Old Testament.

[madison10]

There was one such program about Atlantis and the tsunami theory on PBS recently. Fascinating and totally believable.

Found it: Sinking Atlantis (full episode to watch)

[Bean Counter]

As anyone who knows their Tolkien will tell you, it is not Atlantis, it’s Numenor...

[LostInBayport]

Many, many years ago I read (and still have) a book by Charles Berlitz called Atlantis: The Lost Continent. It suggests a few possible sites for the lost land, and it convinced me that Atlantis once existed (whether it was a continent or a island nation). I am still amazed at how scholars and historians use Plato as a reference for so much yet dismiss his account of Atlantis.

Great stuff!

[tflabo]

Donavan knows all about it, ehehehe.... perhaps LSD inspired..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEtOFnirc1k&feature=related

[newguy357]

Many, many years ago I read (and still have) a book by Charles Berlitz called Atlantis: The Lost Continent. It suggests a few possible sites for the lost land, and it convinced me that Atlantis once existed (whether it was a continent or a island nation). I am still amazed at how scholars and historians use Plato as a reference for so much yet dismiss his account of Atlantis.

That's because the stuff that Plato is used for today (political theory, mainly) is based on reason. Reason was valid then and still is today. His account of Atlantis may or may not be true, but it is not based on reason, but on what even he acknowledged to be legend, from thousands of years prior to even his time.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks for the mention. I’ll check it out.

I would also state that the smaller mimic cities may have been created by people who had visited Atlantis and returned home some time before it was destroyed. Perhaps they even created them prior to Atlantis demise, an omage to the original.

No matter, the show should be interesting. Can’t wait.

[muawiyah]

A careful examination reveals that this is very low lying territory facing the Atlantic. There's a river that flows down from in/near/around Seville ~ you can count on that to have silted the area in over the last few thousand years.

No doubt over geologic time this area has been seabottom repeatedly.

[SunkenCiv]

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[MichiganMan]

What I’ve read is that Atlantis was an imaginary city state Plato used as an analogy of Athens and its Navy. I forget the particulars.