Finding Atlantis

Finding Atlantis

2011, Mystery  -   52 Comments
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Ratings: 7.87/10 from 39 users.

Finding AtlantisCould the fabled lost city of Atlantis have been located? Using satellite photography, ground-penetrating radar and underwater technology, experts are now surveying marshlands in Spain to look for proof of the ancient city.

If the team can match geological formations to Plato’s descriptions and date artifacts back to the time of Atlantis, we may be closer to solving one of the world’s greatest mysteries.

The long lost city of Atlantis is now said to be found in southern Spain. NG claims that the city was destroyed in a tsunami thousands of years ago and resides now in the flat mud grounds of Donana.

The researchers studied a site just above Cadiz where a photo of satellite showed a suspected submerged city which was surveyed with radar technology, satellite map and digital imagery during the period of 2009 and 2010.

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Daniel A Box
Daniel A Box
5 years ago

Atlantis is the Richat structure in North Africa. The dimensions are completely exact to Plato's writings and all of the evidence points towards it.

Sergio La Marca
Sergio La Marca
6 years ago

An Italian journalist and ancient civilizations' connoisseur, Sergio Frau, has an intriguing theory. Based on several ancient sources, he thinks the mithycal Hercules' Columns ("the end of known world" for the Greeks) are really to be located between the southern edge of Sicily and the area that goes from northern Africa to the island of Malta.

If that is true (and the author shows several reasons to believe that, based on ancient literature and modern observations), then the real Atlantis should be modern Sardinia (and the Atlantis' culture to be identified with the builders of Sardinian famous megalythic "nuraghe" palaces. That culture is by the author even linked to the people that after the catastrophic event flooded Europe bringing with them their advanced metallurgic techniques.

He also includes in his book the results of geological surveys that show that Sardinian southern area was subjected to a massive destruction by flooding in coincidence with the same massive earthquake that destroyed Santorini and put an halt to civilization in all the Mediterranean area around Bronze Age. Nice theory and well documented, too!

Nabesquire
Nabesquire
7 years ago

Some say its the huge continent that actually was once in this middle of the Atlantic. Another area that looks promising is southeast Asia. During the last ice age you could walk from Malaysia to Indonesia, phillipines, Papua new Guinea, and all the way to Australia. This is a huge mass of land that is now underwater.

There is now substantial amount evidence that a comet broke up and struck multiple areas of the earths ice sheets around 11000 years ago. This would have rapidly ended the last ice age. Almost Every ancient culture has a flood story. Some have even given a date that fits this evidence.

Gobleki tepe shatters our perception of ancient humans, Dating back to at least around 10600 B.C. Now gudang padang in indonesia has been dated to over 20000 years old but a lot more work needs to be done at this site to be sure.

Human civilization is likely cyclical and could have been around for much longer than we think. It's now known that many of the "homo" fossils are related to the neanderthal and not modern humans at all. Humans branched off much earlier than previously thought and a new approach needs to be taken. It's now speculated that we came from east Asia or even Australia, not Africa.

nufie
nufie
8 years ago

Atlantis is as real as you and me, But that city have been blown to smithereens.
It will be very difficult even with modern equipment to survey the site.
Mother nature is inexorable , it will not yield to man or beast. And have no mercy
for whoever get in its path.
That ancient city was built right on top of mouth of death. When that mouth spoke
its final word not even the god Poseidon escape its wrath.
Whoever built that city probably did not think of the consequence.
Would you built your house in the mouth of a volcano? You asking for trouble...

Kris Armes
Kris Armes
11 years ago

Epicurus, Spoken like a secret agent hiding the lost city.

Muhammad Zaki Al-Aziz
Muhammad Zaki Al-Aziz
12 years ago

Hello brother and all person here.

I've watched this documentary movie but it's too short :(
From the short movie i watched, there's some question i wanna ask you all.

Atlantis is located wherever the scientist focused on. Egypt, Mexico, Troy and event there's scientist that found Atlantis located in some of my country, Indonesia - Sundaland.

I'm little bit skeptic from the last opinion, how about you?

Mahmoud Ahmed Azoz
Mahmoud Ahmed Azoz
12 years ago

good

Ronald
Ronald
12 years ago

I believe that they hae correctly IDed Atlantis. 2000 years ago it was said to have been located in the shallow sea outside the Pillars of Atlas. This wuld have then filled in to becine the sampland. Eveything appears to fit.

fender24
fender24
12 years ago

Not long ago they thought Troy was a myth, until they discovered it.

cjcarcades
cjcarcades
12 years ago

A 'lost city', that could turn out to be the fabled city of Atlantis, has been located by a Canadian scientific research team. In a press release dated Havana, 14 May 2001 Reuters of London informed the world that Soviet-born ocean engineer Paulina Zelitsky, the president of Canadian-based company Advanced Digital Communications, had detected 'a sunken city' in deep waters off the west coast of Cuba, the largest island of the Caribbean.

Satellite-integrated ocean bottom positioning systems, echo sounders and high precision side-scan double-frequency sonar have detected the presence of what are being described as 'shapes' that 'resemble pyramids, roads and buildings'. Their regularity seems consistent with the idea that they represent an 'urban development' composed of 'symmetrical architecture'.

Reuters reported that the deep-sea city is located on a huge land plateau lying in around 2,200 feet (700 metres) of water. Furthermore, that in Paulina's opinion the complex belongs to 'the pre-classic period' of Central American history, and was populated by 'an advanced civilization similar to the early Teotihuacán culture of Yucatán'.

cjcarcades
cjcarcades
12 years ago

Im surised they didn't talk about the discovery of huge building and pyramids off the cost of cuba.

Especially since it's dated to be at least 10000 years old and is one of the biggest discoveries of under water buildings and pyramids and roads and such.

terencegalland
terencegalland
12 years ago

a good story but without proof,looks like they are going to have to break sweat and start digging good luck it would be sensational to find atlantis!

David
David
12 years ago

Plato was recounting the words of Criteas who was the nephew or grand-nephew of Solon, I forget which. They were probably sitting around one evening having wine and tidbits holding an intellectual discourse on the meanng of it all, or dialogue. This is what the Greek upper-crust did, they did no actual work as that was a good way to suffer an accident and get yourself an infection. Which could kill you. Thus; slaves. There were probably three to five scribes, maybe even some of his students, writing down what was said. You must understand that these evenings often brought up what we would call 'thought experiments'. Most of Greek science consisted of theory, logically proven. Thus they were willing to accept the existence of gryphons and other fantastical creatures. What strikes me as odd in the Criteas and Timaeus is that it is not introduced as such a 'theory', an article for such debate, as so many of their other dialogues are. But as a statement of fact attributed to an ancestor. Attributed to an ancestor. Greek dialogues deal with the here and now. The dissection of purity, beauty, and perfection. Why bring a dead uncle into it? Why concoct a story about an Egyptian Priest (a foreigner) who puts your uncle in a bad light? Who insults your very Greekness? I can well imagine Plato, at the end of the evening, taking Criteas by the arm and saying, "Tell me it is a jest". Criteas shrugging and telling Plato "It's the way he told it".

David
David
12 years ago

Interesting, but no kewpie doll. All these archaeologists want to be the one to find Atlantis, so every time they find something new they rush to claim they found Atlantis. And, again, they're five thousand years off the date. So far we have it in the Agean, in the Bahamas and now in Spain. Funny how they excuse anything Plato wrote that doesn't concur with their find. In the Agean he wrote 9,000 when he actually meant 900. In the Bahamas it wasn't just "beyond the pillars of Hercules" it was all the way across the ocean. And now in Spain it wasn't an island, it was right here! Until someone creates a climate model that replaces the ice sheets of 11,500 years ago, drops the sea level 300 ft. and studies the currents of the ice age Atlantic, they haven't got a clue. They might discover a trading outpost of the Atlanteans, or the ancestors of the Phoenicians, but if we are ever to find Atlantis itself it will be where the Egyptian Priest (read scholar, professor, historian) told Solon it was because, claims of mistranslation aside, he probably told this to Solon in Greek as he was putting an upstart smart-alec in his place.

Piotr Loj
Piotr Loj
12 years ago

Well.. it was doc from march. Do you guys think anything moved forward ? Where i can search for some information about under-mud digging ?

shadlez
shadlez
12 years ago

Bleh, terrible doco. As if find a clay doll just like that. There is HARDLY any good evidence, a whole bunch of conjecture, and images that would only match if you squinted and twisted your head. Atlantis is an ISLAND. HOW, is being on the MODERN coast an island? WHY, does inundation maps affect only coast lines that is convenient for the doco makers? .... OMG what a disappointment.

Emily Stites
Emily Stites
13 years ago

I enjoyed this doc. Do I believe there was an Atlantis...yes, however probably not like the one depicted in the animated movie, but it seems that the evidence is there and hopefully one day soon we will be able to uncover the truth behind this mystery.

Malena FreshFire Tekker
Malena FreshFire Tekker
13 years ago

Atlantis is a Pre-Adamite City.

farang
farang
13 years ago

Using Hissarlik as an example of ancient texts and tales providing clues to locate cities contained in them is fine....except it has been proven the "Gold of Priam" that Schliemann found is at least 400 years off the timeframe for the "Trojan War" and absolutely no relics of any 10 year siege have been located at this tiny 10 acre site. He found a settlement yes, but no great city.

It is very interesting the symbol found in Egypt being located in the last Spanish ruins uncovered...but I'd lean more towards that being proof of it being a trading partner of Egypt , perhaps even a work colony of Egypt.

Problem: it does NOT take "three years" for ships to travel from one end of the Mediterranean to the other and back...so the excludes this from being "Atlantis", period. However, Plato easily could have conflated ancients tales and civilizations...this is in the Age of Taurus, but which one? The last one...or the one before?

Speaking of Minoa, I suggest these Spanish settlements or cities were from the people that build Malta stone edifices, the Gobekli Tepe astrological temple @ 9000 years ago, and Egypt's Pyramids....and that is the people from ancient Urartu. Minoa...and Urartu had a famous sea-going king named Menua. Egyptian Mene? Herodotus calls one king of Atlantis "Menes"...

carlos
carlos
13 years ago

I think they really did find Tartessos. To premise this on the assumption that Tertessos and Atlantis were one in the same is quite dubious.

Didn't Plato say Atlantis sank something like 9,000 years before his time? What ever happened to the theory that it was in the Azores? Why the red herrings about Santorini and Troy? Why didn't the Spanish team who has been working on this announce that they had found Atlantis? How much money did Dr. Richard Freund make off of this? How can he have any credibility if he uses Plato's account as a guide but ignores key elements of the Timeaus and Critias dialogues concerning when it sank and where it was located? I expected better from National Geographic, this is designed to entertain, not inform.

Vamp_Man
Vamp_Man
13 years ago

OMG!!! What an annoying documentary. I couldn't reach the end - I was so frustrated at the inaccuracies. Everything from the timescales, the historical connections, the wild assumptions, the justifications from Troy???, even the methane. I am just aghast at such nonsense. It reminds me of someone who once told me (honestly) that Atlantis was built by ancient gods and that dolphins were the guardians of the city. I kid you not. People actually get paid to do this stuff? I want a job like that.

HUMMDRUMM
HUMMDRUMM
13 years ago

Dear NG please ,pretty please stop wasting money and the time of viewers with these high pitched musical farces ! When is there ever going to be an actual interesting doc about Atlantis ? May be one day but hopefully not covered by NG and done by real scientists hopefully German ,I am not German my self but I kind a believe that they will do the no nonsence presentation of Damen un Hairen das is Atlantis . None of that homogenised American viewer swallow that big bulls*** mallarkie . Is it just a legend ? May be ,until it has been proven else that is what it remains to be a legend which I must say would like to see unearthed in my life time as I personaly believe that has some truth in it. Oh ya must not forget ,NG please put a bit more effort in your store in London ,it looks rather cheap and dirty with all the crap and junk you sell in it my five year old even got a bit bored in there and he wants to be a explorer just like he's dad ,now can you imagine he's dissapointment when I took him there.

dj
dj
13 years ago

This is just crap. Actual content - Nil. Fringe, sensationalist and an embarrassment for all of the participants. GASP ! is this the home of the Easter Bunny ?? (Sad little man holds up map, with buck tooth rodent drawn on it). Scratching around under a bush for a while - GASP ! this could be a descendant of the Easter Bunny (Holds up roadkill rabbit). These people have no credibility whatsoever and the "proof" they advance is nothing more than fantasy based on moonshine and nonsense.

Richard Chase
Richard Chase
13 years ago

These documentaries lift you higher and higher....and this one seems so easy to associate with what we think we know of Atlantis. (Albeit, solely from Plato)

Along with the rest of the world, I await confirmation of at least ONE of my fantastic 'wanna-believe's.' I've gone out on several limbs, based on myth, very convincing evidence, my own two eyes and the eye's of thousands of others.

But- almost as a cruel, hidden, chess-master skillfully rigs his game, proof still eludes me, on every front. The same strength of possibility that first opened my eyes and my mind, drives me to relentlessly seek the truth.

KsDevil
KsDevil
13 years ago

The story of Atlantis is more important than they "physical" existance. Trying to find Altantis is missing the point and that's what these fortune seekers do.

Eniki520
Eniki520
13 years ago

i like how plato says that the Atlatic ocean was passable because it had an island in it(Atlantis), yet everyone is looking in the Mediterranean instead of in the atlantic. An island in the Mediterranean, Europe, or Africa would NOT make the Atlantic ocean any more passable.

wald0
wald0
13 years ago

Fairly interesting, but I don't like the way NatGeo present things. Several of the opening remarks to this doc are very misleading.

"Atlantis is thought to be one of the most advanced societies of the ancient world"

This may be true for some scholars but, overall the general opinion of academia is that it never existed. I am not saying this general opinion is correct, only that it is reality.

"Atlantis is considered the holy grail of archeaology"

No, this is absolutely false. Like I said the vast majority think it never existed. That aside there are definitely more important finds. If the general consensus was that Atlantis was the parent civilization for Egypt, Greece, and much of the early middle east this would be true but, this isn't the general consensus. Plato scholar Dr. Julia Annas, Regents Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona, had this to say on the matter:

"The continuing industry of discovering Atlantis illustrates the dangers of reading Plato. For he is clearly using what has become a standard device of fiction—stressing the historicity of an event (and the discovery of hitherto unknown authorities) as an indication that what follows is fiction. The idea is that we should use the story to examine our ideas of government and power. We have missed the point if instead of thinking about these issues we go off exploring the sea bed. The continuing misunderstanding of Plato as historian here enables us to see why his distrust of imaginative writing is sometimes justified."

Further more if you study the structure of writings at this time, specifically political writings and discussions of ethics and morality, you clearly see that fiction is widely used to make a point. Socratic writing in particular made extensive use of this method.Plato also used this method extensively, as he was Socrates student. This is a qoute from Voices from the Past: Ancient writings and History, by David Brown and Julia Micheals. One of the standard texts used in the U.S. to teach western civics and ancient history.

"Plato used dialogues to express his ideas. In this type of writing, the author's thoughts are explored in a series of arguments and debates between various characters in the story. Plato often used real people in his dialogues, such as his teacher, Socrates, but the words he gave them were his own."

Here is another false claim made by this documentary, and this one is a straight forward lie not an ambigous statement.

"Plato insisted that this was a real place and not an allegory..."

This is a flat lie, no question about it. Plato never told anyone wether he truly believed this to be real place or wether it was just a fictional story to make a point. If he had of told people this there wouldn't be so much confusion. If you read Atlantis: the myth, by Alan G. Hefner he writes-

"Whether Plato intended to end his story of Atlantis so abruptly or whether he intended to extend it no one knows. Just as no one knows whether Plato believed in the real existence of the island or whether it was purely a mythical kingdom."

This is a widely accepted fact amongst scholars but, if anyone can show me an authentic writing or some other conclusive proof that Plato truly believed Atlantis to be real I will eat my words.

Tristen Jay Abraham
Tristen Jay Abraham
13 years ago

If you Google "Atlantis Bakhu" you will come across a very recent presentation regarding the whereabouts of Atlantis. I usually find these documentaries and theories interesting but more for pure entertainment than educational purposes.

HOWEVER Jerry Wells has the most compelling evidence I think that has ever been shown to date. He claims Atlantis is actually ABOVE the water on the north western part of Africa. After watching his presentation you almost can't deny the fact that he's found Atlantis! I'm keeping a close eye on his organisation's (The Wells Research Laboratory) upcoming endeavours. Honestly, make a point to watch his presentation (his voice is a bit annoying - I'll be honest - but totally worth it!)

Taylor Ryen
Taylor Ryen
13 years ago

awful!

Teamtigerpaw
Teamtigerpaw
13 years ago

Cool!!!

Eniki520
Eniki520
13 years ago

ive never heard that atlantis was the mother city of ancient egypt, if it was wouldn't the Egyptians worship the greek gods since the Atlantians had a temple to Poseidon.

Russell Rabe
Russell Rabe
13 years ago

great job...just continue searching for evidence

Guest
Guest
13 years ago

Keep it up. You might aliens as well in there :D

WTC7
WTC7
13 years ago

Yes, it is interesting. I like this kind of stuff. Mysteries spark imagination & I love them :). As to the issue of Atlantis being a myth, as they point out in the doc Troy was one too - before it was found. Well, whatever, still, I am keeping my fingers crossed they find Atlantis too :).

Guest
Guest
13 years ago

very interesting!
az

Subject6teen
Subject6teen
13 years ago

I'm going to watch this but I keep wondering why people still hold on to Atlantis and start linking newly discovered cities as Atlantis. Why not just ask the question what they have discovered might be, instead of naming it specifically.

Another thing, I thought Atlantis was the island Santorini. Because the description of Atlantis matches with Santorini quite nicely.

Thanks for the Documentary Vlatko!