LittleMilkJug

Lost city of Atlantis found?
Researcher claims ruins are in the Mediterranean
Sunday, November 14, 2004 Posted: 5:12 PM EST (2212 GMT)



LIMASSOL, Cyprus (AP) -- An American researcher claimed Sunday to have discovered the remains of the legendary lost city of Atlantis on the bottom of the east Mediterranean Sea. But Cyprus' chief government archaeologist was skeptical.

Robert Sarmast said sonar scanning of the seabed between east Cyprus and Syria revealed man-made walls, one as long as 3 kilometers (2 miles), and trenches at a depth of 1,500 meters (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 have definitely found the Acropolis of Atlantis," he affirmed, adding the site was 80 kilometers (50 miles) southeast of Cyprus.

The chief government archaeologist of Cyprus, Pavlos Flourentzos, reacted with skepticism, telling The Associated Press: "More proof is necessary."

Sarmast, 38, is an architect by training from Los Angeles. He has devoted the past two-and-a-half years to trying to locate the lost city described by Plato in his dialogues, the Timaeous and the Critias. He spoke to reporters on the "Flying Enterprise," his expeditionary ship, after six days of taking highly sophisticated "side scan" sonars of the seabed.

He said he had chosen the area from data provided by two earlier sonar scans of the east Mediterranean by Russian and French expeditions. His own expedition used more sophisticated equipment, he said.

"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. 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."

Plato wrote of Atlantis as an island in the western sea, which has been widely interpreted to mean the Atlantic Ocean. An earthquake undermined the island and it was submerged. But societies dedicated to finding Atlantis remain.

For its time, Atlantis was a highly civilized nation and in legend it has become associated with utopia. The English philosopher Francis Bacon called his 1627 book on the ideal state The New Atlantis.

Flourentzos said it was possible that Atlantis was near Cyprus.

"The myth of Atlantis has been around for ages and it is generally believed that, if it ever existed, it was somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean -- hence its name. But ancient cities and civilizations in the Mediterranean region, such as the Minoan civilization of Crete, have disappeared as a result of major volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. For all we know, Atlantis may well have existed in our region."

Sarmast said his expedition had cost about $250,000. The funds came from public donations to his US-based company "First Source Enterprise," which is devoted to the project, sales of his book "The Discovery of Atlantis," and the Cypriot Tourist Organization, which donated $60,000.

He said the book, published in September 2003, said Atlantis was in the east Mediterranean and his latest sonars confirmed it.



If this is true....Woah!

Katis

Hm, I doubt it's true but if it is...I think I will be torn between sad and excited. Excited because hey, it will be a mystery solved, sad because that mysterious element was always a huge part of the allure of Atlantis. It's something unknown so it can be anything you could imagine. Somehow I don't think the reality would be as fun.

Drekkan

Hmm, it just seems that every couple years we have a new "for sure" locating of Atlantis. Maybe I'm just cynical, but, well, I am.

SuperDeluxe

Wasnt about a year ago, someone found atlantis near the coast of cuba?

The Daywalker

That's how i'll be and how I was when they found Genghis Khan's tomb.

Ambular

I read last month that Atlantis was actually Australia And that guy was "sure", too.

Who knows. I enjoy the mystery of it, personally.

justsmile

Well, this just proves it could be *any* Mediterranean civilization. I'm not sure if I believe this, not until there is more evidence to prove that it is Atlantis and not some other civilization.

I also find it odd that Mr. Sarmast had an idea of where he might find Atlantis and low and behold he finds it in the place he said it was... when there is no 100% proof that Alantis ever existed. It's just odd!

TheAngel

The true belief is that Atlantis actually was/ is Crete and that it was totally destroyed when a portion of Crete broke off and feel beneath the ocean during and earthquake. Also, this guy is talking about specifics in Plato's writings, there are actually very few specifics. He talks about a general location and description of Atlantis but never specifically pointing to one thing. I believe that Atlantis will not be found until it is ready to be found, and I don't believe that it is ready.

Mio

Interesting..

Next it's going to be found off the coast of Vancouver, Canada.

Jerry D

Yeah, that is interesting, and it does seem more plausible that Atlantis, if it existed, would have been in the Mediterranean Sea, but there have been so many conflicting stories of where Atlantis might be (one story I saw placed in in the Caribbean) that I think it's impossible to know the truth.

sick little jag

I've always been really fascinated by the myth of Atlantis and I think it would be really awesome if it had been found. But it's probably another false alarm....but it does seem like a more likely location for it than other places where people have claimed to have found it.

*Circe*

I heard the theory that Atlantis is somehwere off the coast of Santorini, but hey....

If this does turn out to be true, I will be really sad. I always had this childhood dream of finding Atlantis.

~Belle

spent cigarette

Whoooo! I'm living in the Lost City!

Although I doubt it's true, it's fun to let that side of you come out and get excited.

JW77

I've always been fascinated by it too. It's a nice myth.

I've heard people mention Tiahuanaco (in Bolivia) as a possible location, but I don't know that some of the history matches up properly. It is interesting about traces of tobacco being found in mummies from Egypt though. Of course, there are some people that say that tobacco was found in Asia during the same time period, but I don't know. I'm not a tabacco expert.