Posted on 11/14/2004 6:57:47 PM PST by aculeus
A team of American ocean researchers said yesterday that they were convinced they had found evidence of the lost kingdom of Atlantis off the coast of Cyprus.
The team used the latest sonar technology to create images of the sea bed a mile below the surface of the Mediterranean.
The expedition, led by Robert Sarmast, spent six days at sea surveying the area. "I am absolutely convinced I have found Atlantis," Mr Sarmast said, speaking on the deck of his research ship on his return to Limassol.
"The sonar images showed what appeared to be two straight walls each about a mile long at either end of a flat-topped hill where the city's temples would have been situated."
In addition to these apparently man-made structures the images also showed evidence of two streams that Mr Sarmast said had flowed from springs on the summit. These fed into a trench or canal bed, which seemed to run concentrically around the hill.
According to Mr Sarmast the latest evidence matches exactly the detailed description of Atlantis given by Plato.
"There are about 60 specific points that match Plato's account," he said. "How can you explain away a bunch of coincidences like this?"
Mr Sarmast, 38, from Los Angeles, admits he has no formal academic qualifications to substantiate his claims, which he acknowledges to be controversial. But having spent 10 years studying accounts of the lost city he is in no doubt about the importance of his find.
He says his next step will be to make a three-dimensional computer image from the sonar data before returning to the site for further research.
But Mr Sarmast is not alone in claiming to have found the site of the ancient city. Last June a German researcher produced evidence to support his assertion that Atlantis was once a coastal area of Spain, not far from Cadiz. Other recent theories have located the city near Cuba and off the coast of Devon.
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright
Somebody call WHOI, get Ballard on the horn...
sonar scanning 50 miles southeast of Cyprus revealed man-made walls, one as long as 2 miles, and trenches at a depth of 1,640 yards.
"It is a miracle we found these walls as their location and lengths match exactly the description of the acropolis of Atlantis provided by Plato in his writings," Sarmast said, referring to the ancient Greek philosopher."
"We found more than 60-70 points that are a perfect match with Plato's detailed description of the general layout of the acropolis hill of Atlantis (search). The match of the dimensions and the coordinates provided by our sonar with Plato's description are so accurate that, if this is not indeed the acropolis of Atlantis, then this is the world's greatest coincidence," he said.
Tests of that part of the seabed showed it had once been above sea level, he said.
"We cannot yet provide tangible proof in the form of bricks and mortar as the artifacts are still buried under several meters of sediment at a depth of 1,500 meters (1,640 yards), but the evidence is now irrefutable," he added.
Asked if the ruins could not be that of another city that sank beneath the waves, Sarmast said the remains match Plato's description of Atlantis so closely that they could not be anything else.
"If you compare it with Plato, you will be astonished," he said. "We hope that future expeditions will be able to uncover the sediment and bring back physical proof."
...and the Moon will be in the 7th House and Jupiter will align with Mars and peace will (?do something) to the planet...it is the 'Darning of the Agent of Saudi'ee-es'... (yuck, yuck)
Thats interesting. Go down, inflate a giant dome with air and let the excavators go to work. =o)
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
If the temperate zones were where they are today--or even farther from the equator, the evidence has been largely buried or wiped out.
What we find today is mainly the remnants of equatorial civilizations, when those climates were more temperate and the remanants of the ice sheets were retreating, those remnants now are largely in desert or tropical climate regions because the climate changed when the ice sheets receeded.
Just my crackpot ideas...
If the temperate zones were where they are today--or even farther from the equator, the evidence has been largely buried or wiped out.
My God man, do you realize what you're saying? You're saying that the Earth, in its 4.5 billion year existence to date, might have warmed and cooled several times?
When we all now know, that its man rise that has caused the earth to warm. Unless of course you're right, then the enviro's will be able to point to Atlantis as being proof that man warmed up his climate before.... oh wait, we've had an ice age since then...
never mind...
We now return you to your regularly scheduled freep.
I think you are probably right but that would not fit with the conventional wisdom concerning human civilization. Sometimes today what scientists make up for in "intellect" they lack in imagination but eventually things will be dug up. I wouldn't be surprised to find that considerable "proof" of pre-ice age civilizations is not already in the coffers of many museums not that they have covered the proof up but that no one is really looking.
Why not instead just ask the crew of the soviet Submarine spotted there?
With something that terrain altering, you would have to find paleofeatures which were buried, preserving sites in sheltered topography. Not easy to do.
Then, too, few would want to stick their neck out before they found anything, and scattered finds will be buried, discarded, or ignored.
But then, conventional wisdom has been a long term impediment to scientific progress, and maybe it is just as well, on some counts.
What d'ya want to bet that San Francisco has already applied for a franchise?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.