RESUME
To sum up briefly all the above-said, the hypothesis can be formulated as follows:
At the time when the last Ice Age ended, the rising level of the world ocean resulted in the submerging of a sizeable territory in the west of Europe (which is now known as the Celtic Shelf) and where the centre of a highly developed civilisation and of a powerful state was situated. This state (or a commonwealth of states) controlled the whole Atlantic coast of Europe (and maybe North Africa), a considerable part of the Mediterranean coast of Europe and Africa and, possibly, could also sail the territories along the Atlantic coasts of North Africa, North and Central America. Along with this state, there existed other states in areas with a mild climate, in particular, "Ancient Athens", which entered into a coalition with other peoples of the Mediterranean to jointly resist the expansion of Atlantis. All the artifacts of these civilisations have either been irretrievably lost or are now on the bottom of the sea, that is why they have never come to the notice of the modern archaeological science. Neither have written records of that period been preserved, and the earliest written recording of the events of that period was made at least a thousand years later, in Egypt, on the basis of the still remaining folk memory, but it was already very general in character and imprecise. It was pure chance that it came to the notice of Plato and was recorded by him in the dialogues Timaeus and Critias. Throughout the whole chain of the passing down of this narrative, distortions and inaccuracies have accumulated, which, coupled with lack of corroborating evidence from other sources and archaeological finds, has determined its present ambiguous status.
POSSIBILITIES
The hypothesis we are putting forward, like any other hypothesis, is only a concept, and needs to be corroborated by facts. Since so far no such facts, recognised as trustworthy, have been found, it is evident that this is where the main problem lies. But it seems to me that there are fairly wide possibilities for solving it, even without resorting to the analysis of legends and myths, or looking for cultural parallels, which in itself is very interesting, but can hardly bring forward irrefutable proofs.
Certain conclusions can probably be drawn on the basis of analysing the data of such scientific disciplines as comparative linguistics and anthropometry, though in order to obtain acceptably reliable findings a gigantic volume of work will have to be done and a vast amount of information processed.
And, last but not least, since the hypothesis deals with the submerging of Plato's Atlantis as the ocean level rose, the most convincing evidence (if it exists at all) can be found underwater at depths from 50 to 160 metres. As far as I know, no systematic archaeological survey of the shelf at these depths has ever been undertaken by anyone. Neither is high resolution bathymetry of the area in question available (I contacted many oceanographic centres including UK Hydrographic Office, British Oceanographic Data Centre, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, IFREMER, NOAA, Defence Mapping Agency of the USA).
I intend to organise an expedition to the above-mentioned region, which could consist of two stages:
1.A sweep bathymetry survey of the area in question, using sonar and satellite navigation system, for the purpose of charting a very high resolution map. Analysis of the data thus obtained, using different methods, including computer techniques, to identify objects that could be of artificial nature.
2.If objects of this kind are identified in the area, organisation of underwater exploration and photographing them.
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Any suggestions and comments are welcome to
explor@glas.apc.org------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 1996 Viatcheslav Y. Koudriavtsev
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Chronology and Catastrophism Review
Proceedings of The 1995 Braziers College Conference
Velikovsky 100th Birthday Memorial Meeting
Journal of the Society for Interdisciplinary Studies
1995 Special Issue (Volume XVII). ISSN 0953 0053
Atlantis: New Hypothesis
Modified 11 June 1996 @ 17:25 GMT
From
explor@glas.apc.org Tue Jun 11 18:05:24 1996
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Date: Mon, 3 Jun 96 17:21:16 +0400 (GMT+0400)
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From: Vyatcheslav Koudriavtsev
DISCLAIMER:
I make no claims for the accuracy of this information and express no personal opinion on the matter. The information was acquired off the web and from authors (owners of said pages) and other sources and described as "information" and I wanted to pass it along to anyone who might find it interesting or otherwise useful. I'd appreciate any feedback you'd care to share with me if you wish to proceed in a civilized manner. If the work is yours please email me and we can work something out.
I want to give them the credit they deserve or remove the piece.
http://www.think-aboutit.com/atlantis/AtlantisNewHypothesis.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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