ATLANTIS - The riddle of the lost continent
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An
intriguing but unproven theory "demonstrated" with elements
from mythology, controversial archaeological finds, confused
geological theories and hypotheses about space has made
many writers rich who have identified in the so-called "wall
of Bimini" the remains of the lost continent; (a series
of enigmatic layers of rock on the sea bed off the Florida
coast which look like they were shaped by man). |
But
although the idea of a continent lost in the Atlantic ocean may
have made its way into "popular" or "esoteric" magazines with
the inevitable entourage of cosmic collisions or explosions of
extraterrestrial spaceships, this theory - which places Atlantis
in the Western Atlantic, and more precisely in the Cyclades, in
an area today identified as the island of Santorini - has not
enjoyed as much credibility in the scientific world.
The idea that Santorini is what remains of a much larger island
destroyed by a catastrophic volcanic eruption has been an established
fact for some time now; it is known that a full 18 cubic kilometres
of magma spewed out the island once called Thera and that, as
happened more recently at Krakatoa, the explosion only left an
outcrop of black rock. Developments in carbon dating in the 70's,
however, made it possible to date, with a very low margin of error,
a tree trunk found buried under the volcanic rock: the eruption
must have taken place in the year 1456 BC.
This date agreed with the one postulated some years earlier by
Angelos Galanopulos when he analysed certain episodes reported
in the Bible (the "three days of darkness", for example, the earthquakes,
or the parting of the Red Sea). The Greek geologist came to the
conclusion that in that precise year a volcanic explosion must
have affected the whole of the Western Mediterranean. In fact,
according to Galanopulos, in the numerous transcriptions of Plato'
writings there had been an error which had multiplied by ten the
numbers originally expressed: the area of Atlantis therefore coincided
with that of Thera and, by reading 900 years instead of 9,000
years, the period in which Atlantis disappeared matched the period
of the eruption which had destroyed the whole island.
Further
substance was given to this theory by the finding of a mysterious
fresco on Santorini lying under a layer of volcanic rock:
it depicted an island rich in animals, plants and crops,
populated by a wealthy civilisation with sumptuous cities
and intense shipping activity, crossed by concentric waterways.
This is an account which resembles very much Plato's description
of Atlantis: set out in concentric circles in which the
canals of the port alternated with roads bordered by magnificent
palaces, rich in commerce and where nature flourished. |
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After
careful studies in 1973 the geologist Dorothy Vitalino pointed
out how the topography of Atlantis described by Plato fitted perfectly
the way Thera must have looked: a "caldera" formed following a
volcanic eruption many centuries earlier.
Finally the pieces of the Atlantis mosaic started to fit into
a convincing hypothesis: the destruction of Thera, the main naval
base of the Minoan empire, and the following tidal wave that struck
Crete and the central-eastern Mediterranean coast had led to firstly
the decline and then the disappearance of the Minoan civilisation
and its supremacy throughout the Mediterranean, and the consequent
rise of Mycenae. This extraordinary volcanic event is said to
be the origin, together with the myth of Jason and the Minotaur,
of the legend narrated by Plato, and of the events depicted in
the Bible.
It goes without saying that staunch advocates of the lost continent
of Atlantis fiercely contest the identification of Atlantis with
Thera. Their reasons are many, and in some cases quite convincing.
Their main objection is that the location of the lost continent
in the Mediterranean - an idea which would relegate Atlantis to
the level of e mere island - justified in the eyes of the academic
world by the fact that Plato placed that land under the protection
of Poseidon and Herakles (a divinity associated with the Aegean
sea), is not credible. Likewise, according to them, it would be
just as incorrect to knock a zero off the figure reported by Plato
to make the date of the eruption coincide with that of the Exodus
out of Egypt, an event which, in any case according to recent
research, took place not in 1470 BC but a good 150 years earlier.
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The
actual intensity of the eruption at Thera, as documented
by archaeological excavations, would seem to exclude the
unexpectedness of the catastrophe reported by Plato; in
the houses excavated on Santorini for example no human
remains were found, no jewels or other valuable objects,
as if the inhabitants had been able to take their time
in collecting their belongings before leaving.
Tools and provisions were instead found in the cellars
of some houses, perhaps put there to protect them from
the tremors: something which would indicate that the inhabitants
of Thera were quite used to earthquakes.
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Very
probably the eruption was preceded by a slow and progressive bradyseism
and by repetitive earthquakes for weeks or even months which gradually
forced the inhabitants to leave the island. After this first phase,
the volcanic crisis must have quietened down: this probably drew
the population back to the island to repair the damage and continue
their everyday lives.
Evidence of this return is still visible at the Akrotiri excavation
site on the Southern part of Santorini: a road reopened, rubble
heaped into ordered piles, the frame of a window made larger to
create a door, an improvised fireplace in one of the houses, a
bathtub dragged onto the roof, perhaps to collect rainwater...
The rebuilding works were brought to a halt however when the volcanic
activity started up again: quite probably the population left
Thera forever and may have moved on to Crete.
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At
this point began the paroxsysmic phase of the eruption,
with an impressive sequence of phenomena, testimony of
which can still be seen today in the lava accumulated
in the quarry south of the town of Thira, in the centre
of the Island. At first the eruption produced a rain of
pumice, then a more reddish coloured matter came forth
followed finally by the characteristic red pumice which
Thera is famous for.
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The
volcano then exploded: a jet of compressed material and boiling
gas reached the stratosphere, launched skywards at speeds in excess
of 2,000 kph: the explosions would have been heard clearly in
an area from central Africa to Scandinavia, from the Persian Gulf
to Gibraltar. The suspended ash turned day to blackest night over
a radius of hundreds of kilometres, and no doubt altered dawn,
sunset and meteorological conditions throughout the world.
The violent explosion of an immense quantity of magma had emptied
the gigantic magmatic basin underneath the island, causing the
volcanic formation to collapse; billions of cubic metres of sea
water gushed into the incandescent abyss: the sudden evaporation
of the water must have caused a series of titanic explosions which
ripped what was left of the island apart, creating great tidal
waves, mountains of high water, probably over 60 metres high which
crossed the whole Mediterranean to crash upon the shores of Crete,
or even as far as the Egyptian coast.
Was this the end of Atlantis? The last word has not yet been said
on this mystery which has fascinated humanity for centuries, but
perhaps we should heed the words of a great narrator: "It is as
well that Atlantis should remain a mystery. It is right that man,
looking at the ocean, should worry thinking of a distant and inscrutable
realm swallowed up in one day and one night by the sea and fire.
The proud dream of an eternity shattered by nature's reawakening.
Civilisations are born, grow and finally die. Let us prepare ourselves
for this. Atlantis never existed. It is everywhere."
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"Catastrophes
have always repeated themselves [..] and they will always
happen in the future too, the most serious caused by water
and fire. Once upon a time [..] beyond that strait which
you call the "Pillars of Herakles" there was an island,
larger than Asia and Libya put together, and from it you
could travel to other islands and from these to the mainland
opposite. [..] This island called Atlantis [..], within
one terrible day and one night disappeared into the sea."
These fragments of Plato's writings that report a story
passed down by Solon who, in turn, had learned it from
Egyptian priests, now reach us in the form of less than
20 printed pages;
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and yet to date over 25,000 books have been published in an attempt
to decipher the mystery of Atlantis, the catastrophe that caused
its disappearance (even if, as already stated, there still has
been no series of organised interdisciplinary research, or a scientific
expedition worthy of its name to discover the remains of the "lost
continent").
One of the reasons for scepticism regarding this subject in the
academic world is probably due to the editorial success enjoyed
by several "popularizers" of the Atlantis myth located all over
the world; in Sweden according to Olaus Rudbeck, in South Africa
according to Gaspar Kirchmair, in the Arctic sea according to
Silvain Bailly, in Armenia according to Desliles de Sale, in Ceylon
according to Byron de Prorock, and in some cases even presented
as the bridge-head of an alien civilisation. Of course we have
no pretension to offer the final word here on such a controversial
subject, we will just limit ourselves to presenting the two most
plausible interpretations, those considered in official scientific
circles to be the most credible: both attribute the disappearance
of Atlantis to a volcanic eruption, an event which releases enormous
energy. We need only take for example the explosion on 18th May
1980 which split in two the volcano of Mt. St. Helens, in the
state of Washington (U.S.A), releasing in just 9 hours energy
equal to 27,000 atomic bombs of the type dropped on Hiroshima,
almost one every second, for 9 consecutive hours.
Nevertheless, this is considered quite mild compared to even more
apocalyptic eruptions such as the one at Krakatoa in 1883, or
at Katmai in 1912, which buried vast areas with layers of ash
and rock hundreds of metres high. Even these events are just small
examples of the energy the Earth still possesses: prehistoric
volcanic activity probably goes beyond our imaginative capabilities
and our culture is quite possibly too young yet to understand
the real potential of a volcano.
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The
scientific world's interest in the lost continent can
be traced basically to the year 1898. During laying of
the transatlantic telegraph lines, one of the cables laid
at a depth of 2,800 metres on the ocean bed which was
from then onwards called the "Telegraph plateau", broke.
Its ends were luckily recovered from the deep using specialist
equipment which, by chance, also brought to the surface
a piece of rock.
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Some
years later Paul Tremier, director of the French Oceanographic
Institute, held a conference in Paris which caused a great sensation:
that amorphous rock, with its non crystalline structure, was of
clear volcanic origin but what was unusual was that it had not
solidified in deep water but in the open air; it therefore had
to have come from a volcano whose mouth was above sea level. In
addition, the rock had sharp edges, not yet smoothed by the sea's
erosive actions. On analysing the profile, Tremier estimated that
it could not be more than 15,000 years old. Further undersea samples
confirmed that the same type of rock was present in a large area
of the Atlantic sea bed.
The first hypothesis regarding Atlantis was therefore formulated:
following assiduously the assertions of Plato, the lost continent
was to be found beyond the straits of Gibraltar, in the ocean
that bears its name; it would have been 550 kilometres long by
370 wide and presided over by the volcano Atlas, situated in the
present day Pico Alto of the Azores. This hypothesis explains
many coincidences which still today leave academics dumbfounded,
such as the cultural, architectural, linguistic and biological
affinities of the people who live on both sides of the Atlantic.
The sudden disappearance of Atlantis which, according to Plato
took place around 9,000 BC, would then justify events difficult
to explain such as for example the end of the ice age in Europe
(the lost continent no more constituting an obstacle, the warm
Gulf stream would then have been able to reach the European Atlantic
coasts to slowly melt the ice) or the periodic migration of eels
towards the Sargasso sea (where in ancient times there would have
been the estuary of a large river).
The academic world very soon became strongly divided between those
who maintained that finally proof of why Atlantis was swallowed
up by the sea had been found, and those who, on the contrary,
believed that those magmatic rocks found on the bed of the Atlantic
came from the Icelandic coast covered by icebergs which then melted.
The debate was dying down when drilling operations carried out
by the oceanographic ship Gauss in the so called "Romanche trench"
to the south of the Azores, at a depth of 7,300 metres, revealed
the presence of red clay layers containing numerous globigerine
fossils, or rather microscopic protozoa which normally live at
depths of between 2,000 and 4,500 metres.
From
a logical standpoint therefore, that layer of clay sediment should
have sunk, in a relatively recent era, to at least 2,800 metres:
the same level Paul Tremier found for the Telegraph plateau. Since
then several scholars, on analysing the characteristics of the
Atlantic ocean bed, have hypothesised the recent sinking of a
continent. Others however, have starkly rebuked this: retaliating
with the theory of plate tectonics, derived from the hypothesis
of continents drifting apart outlined by Alfred Wegener in 1915.
They categorically dismiss the possibility that a territory as
vast as the one described by Plato could have ever existed in
that ocean.
In all truth, the sudden sinking of a medium sized volcanic island
in the not so distant past cannot be excluded, on the contrary,
it should be held quite probable: the proof is offered by the
sudden appearance in 1931 of two small volcanic islands off the
coast of Brazil, only to sink again the following year while international
diplomats were at work trying to sort out territorial rights.
The disappearance of a continental mass such as that described
by Plato is however a whole different matter: in this case a volcanic
eruption - at least as we know them today - cannot be considered
the sole cause of such a colossal event. We need to tax our imaginations
even further to think of something even more catastrophic: the
impact of an asteroid, for example, which would have swallowed
up Atlantis in a sea of fire as it ripped the Atlantic wide open.
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