by Ellen Lloyd
December 07,
2020
from
AncientPages Website
The quest for
the lost underwater land
has not ended.
Credit: Foto-Jagla.de
Adobe Stock
The legendary lost continent of
Atlantis appears in ancient myths
and legends all over the world.
Ancient people were familiar with a
marvelous land that vanished a very long time ago.
Researchers have debated the existence of Atlantis for years.
Some
say the continent is nothing but a myth, while others are convinced,
we will one day uncover the remains of this long-lost land.
Finding the remains of Atlantis is challenging because it’s
difficult to determine where to look.
Also, let us assume we do
find ancient underwater ruins,
how can we say with
certainty these are the remains of Atlantis?
There are many submerged
ancient cities...
There are several underwater ruins in various places around the
world and all of them could be part
of Atlantis.
'Atlantis' is Greek for
the 'Island of Atlas'...
The sunken continent of
Atlantis was mentioned by Plato in his dialogues
Timaeus and
Critias.
Plato relates the
legend of a powerful nation that around 9,500 B.C. inhabited a
continent greater in size than ancient Libya and Asia combined.
According to Plato, this powerful nation attacked and conquered
Europe and Asia.
Apparently, only the Greeks were able to prevail against them.
As the story goes,
sometime after the invasion the Greeks and the Atlanteans were
swallowed up by the sea. The disaster happened quickly and
unexpectedly.
Over the years several researchers claim to have uncovered parts of
the sunken legendary continent and there have been several
speculations regarding the location of the sunken land.
For example, in
Atlantis - The Lost Continent Finally Found,
Professor Arysio Santos makes a persuasive and
well-researched case for Atlantis being in the region of Indonesia.
"Atlantis was never
found because we have all been looking in the wrong places.
Realizing that, we started to look for the spot where an entire
sunken continent could be hiding itself.
Geology afforded the
correct, irrefutable answer:
down under the
South China Sea, that is where.
The rest followed
quite naturally and, in fact, far more serendipitously than we
ourselves could ever have imagined beforehand," late Professor
Arysio Santos explained.
1997 Interview with Prof. Arysio Santos
We have seen on previous occasions scientists are making remarkable
progress in the area of underwater archeology, but a huge portion of
our oceans still remains unexplored.
According to the National Ocean Service (NOA), it is estimated that only 5
percent of Earth's oceans have been explored and charted. The rest
remains mostly undiscovered and unseen by humans.
With so much territory
still left to explore, we can only imagine the discoveries yet to
come...!
In recent years we have been given the privilege to
see photos of
remarkable underwater ruins like for example the magnificent
legendary
lost city of Heracleion.
With help of the latest technology, we have the opportunity to
explore the secrets of oceans as never before.
The legendary lost
underwater city of Pavlopetri is
often described as the world's oldest city.
There are those who
think that these underwater ruins are remains of the legendary
city of Atlantis...
Some years ago,
geologists discovered puzzling rocks off the coast of Rio in Brazil.
According to Roberto
Ventura Santos, a top official at Brazil's Geology Service
(CPRM) the granite samples were found two years ago during dredging
operations in an area known as "Rio Grande Elevation", a mountain
range in Brazilian and international waters.
Santos said at the time of the discovery that these rocks were
likely part of a continent that sunk into the ocean when Africa and
South America drifted apart 100 million years ago - dubbing the
discovery the 'Brazilian Atlantis'.
Brazil's Geology Service dredged the
seabed
off the coast of Rio, near the Rio Grande Elevation.
Among
the rocks found were granite samples
that
are thought to be part of a continent that was submerged
by the
Atlantic Ocean when Africa and South America
split
100 million years ago.
Credit:
Geological Service of Brazil
"This could be the Brazilian Atlantis.
We are almost
certain, but we must bolster our hypothesis.
We will have final
(scientific) recognition this year when we conduct drilling in
the area to retrieve more samples of these rocks," Santos said
then.
Could this rock be part
of the legendary lost continent of Atlantis?
Credit: Geological Service of Brazil
Initially, the scientists thought they were mistaken, but their case
was bolstered when a team of Brazilian and Japanese scientists
aboard Japan's manned research submersible
Shinkai 6500, observed
the underwater geological formation located opposite the Brazilian
coast.
As researchers explored the region, they began to see that the area
could be a piece of the continent that disappeared into the sea
millions of years ago.
Should these rocks be considered as possible physical evidence of
Atlantis?
For the time being, it is
difficult to say anything about this discovery. To confirm
geologists claims someone must be interested in testing these rocks
and examine the underwater formations.
Unfortunately, reports of recent research are lacking, and it seems
nothing has been done in years.
It happens far too often
scientists discovered something of tremendous historical,
archaeological, or geological interest, but follow-ups of the
discoveries are unheard of...
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