Desperately Seeking Atlantis

The story of Atlantis was reported by Plato in the 4th century BC, who said he read it in the writings of Solon (6th century BC), who had originally gotten the story from the Egyptians. It’s a great story, and it has great resonance today, particularly after the destruction caused by the earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Indonesia in December 2004. But, was Atlantis a reality, was it really destroyed, and if so, when, where and how? This is what the conference at Milos was to find out.

The pieces of the Atlantis puzzle that Drs. Collima-Girard and Gutscher took for their research were the physical location of the action as described by Plato (outside the Pillars of Hercules), the geological history (destroyed by earthquake and tsunami), and the timing (12,000 years ago). They pinpointed a sunken island called Spartel Bank, located in the western Straits of Gibraltar, that sank about 11,600 years ago. Since Spartel Bank is between 50 and 130 meters below the current water level, no one has looked for cultural remains, but… there it is, right place, right condition, right time.

7,500 Years Too Early

But is it the right time? If Plato’s timing was right, he was wrong about all of the societal description of the communities. Simply put, 12,000 years ago, there were no stratified societies (ranking is in evidence no earlier than 8,000 BC), there were no cities (the first was Catalhoyuk, 6300 BC), there was no monumental architecture (megalithic tombs, 5000 BC). There were no domesticated cattle (southwest Asia, 6000 BC), there was no bronze production (5000 BC), there were no domesticated horses (Ukraine 4000 BC) or wheels (Mesopotamia, 3000 BC). No roads (Sweet Track, 3000 BC), certainly no canals, aqueducts or bridges. No ships (Egypt, 2600 BC). In fact, according to all the archaeological evidence gathered to date, 12,000 years ago, every single person on the planet was a hunter-gatherer living in an egalitarian band.

The primary point of Plato’s story is not the destruction, but the activities that led up to the destruction. The societal conditions described for Atlantis and Athens by Plato cannot be any earlier than 2600 BC; 4000 BC, if you leave out the transportation network. But since the transportation network made the war with Athens possible, if you’re going to look for Atlantis, look in the Mediterranean or environs, and look for destruction on a pretty massive scale, but, especially, look no earlier than 2500 BC.

What About the Minoan Culture?

It seems clear that Plato got his dates wrong. Bad news for Drs. Collima-Girard and Gutscher, that rules out Spartel Bank, which was underwater and uninhabitable by 11,600 years ago. One idea that has been kicked around for a long time, and meets the criteria established in the paragraph above, is the Minoan culture on Akrotiri, whose cataclysmic end occurred in eruptions in 1500 BC. The Minoan culture is actually quite a good fit. The Egyptians knew about the Minoans; the site of Tell el-Daba has Minoan frescoes, and both cultures were quite involved in international trade throughout the Mediterranean Sea, as is apparent from the Qantir glass workshop.

Whether the legend reported by Plato was based on the Minoan culture and its destruction or not will never be known for certain. However, it is certainly a better fit for Atlantis than the Spartel Bank.

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Thanks to About's guide to Geology, Andrew Alden, who first broke this story.

Page 3 of this story is a response from Marc-Andre Gutscher.

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