The search for Atlantis: Now they say it was built on a Spanish beach

Weird circles in a Spanish bog. Strange rubble submerged at a nearby beach. Researchers scouring satellite photos have found what they say may be the ‘real’ Atlantis.

It’s the most discovered city in history — even though it doesn’t even exist. “Atlantis has been found” has become a common refrain. But what it really signals is another exciting — but strange — discovery.

This time Atlantis is located on and near the beaches of southern Spain.

A cluster of odd circular shapes have emerged from under a local swamp.

Their ‘discovery’ by Merlin Burrows, who scoured satellite photos for anything seemingly out-of-place, has naturally been turned into a documentary.

It’s called Atlantica.

Satellite images and aerial photographs of the coastal areas of Donana National Park show the outline of dozens of hidden, circular structures. There also appears to be heavily eroded ruins under the murky waves.

Yep, it is “concrete” proof Atlantis existed — or so the documentary makers claim.

“For the first time in history, join our team as we uncovered the actual remains of the mythical empire of Atlantis”.

Well, at least they got one piece correct.

Atlantis is mythical.

And therefore not real.

From Atlantica, an artistic depiction of an ancient city on the south coast of Spain.

“We were able to identify artefacts, which matched Plato’s descriptions of Atlantis, down to the most crucial details … exactly as Plato described them!!”

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Problem is, Plato was blatantly citing a fictitious character’s fictitious references to a fictitious place — in order to ram home a political point about how bad things were in his 4th Century BC home, Athens.

But … surely extraordinary evidence would support such an extraordinary claim?

not surprisingly, it’s severely lacking.

Sure, it ticks some of the tales key boxes:

Beyond the Pillars of Hercules (which some believe is the Strait of Gibraltar): Check

Circular structures: Check

Plenty of uncertainty to exploit: Check

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Plenty of public interest to pull in royalties from yet another film/book deal? Check

While the myth of Atlantis may have be inspired by faint memories of long-past events, such as the volcanic destruction of the Minoan city on the island of Santorini, the place described in Plato’s tale is no more real than Kings Landing or Winterfell in the novel Game of Thrones.

Concrete evidence, or just concrete? From Atlantica, a new documentary claiming to have identified the location of the mythical Atlantis.

“Pick a spot on the map, and someone has said that Atlantis was there,” Charles Orser of the New York State Museum in Albany told National Geographic. “Every place you can imagine.”

Spain. Santorini. The Black Sea. North Africa. The North Atlantic. The Carribean. Antarctica.

In reality, Atlantis was Athens.

He says the story is a moral allegory — a warning — about what happens to people who became “morally bankrupt’ and who had “lost their way and turned to immoral pursuits”.

New TV show idea:

An archaeologist debunks ancient mystery claims!

I know a guy, call me! 😉

— David S. Anderson (@DSAArchaeology) November 15, 2018

Media: In the past month #Atlantis has been found in the Sahara, Antarctica, and now Spain.

Me: You keep using this word “found.” I do not think it means what you think it means. pic.twitter.com/e0Fx8QxZS7

— David S. Anderson (@DSAArchaeology) November 16, 2018

“There is the presumption of mystery that annoys me as an archaeologist since we actually know what happened at these real sites,” says Ancient America’s archaeologist and anti-pseudoarchaeology campaigner Dr David Anderson.

“I try to teach my students that archaeology can breed humility. This great city of Teotihuacan that you’ve never heard of before? It was around for 600 years and home to 150,000 people. That’s way longer than the United States has been around and, at least for my students, far bigger than any of our nearby cities.”