LOST CITY OF ATLANTIS FOUND
- Underneath Sahara Desert! THE LOST City of Atlantis is not deep beneath the ocean -- the ancient
metropolis is buried under the sands of the Sahara Desert!
Archaeologist Dr. Carla Sage points out that according to ancient
accounts, the Mycenaean, Cretan and Egyptian civilizations all traded
with Atlantis -- which would have been unlikely if it lay in the North
Atlantic as many believe.
"Atlantis was clearly within easy trading distance of Troy and the other
city states of the Mediterranean," she says. "I believe Atlantis was the
capital of a vast North African empire with ports on the Gulf of Sidra.
"Atlantis was destroyed, not by earthquake, floods or volcanoes, but by
the steady march of desert sands that smothered the civilization.
"The empire did not sink into the sea as is commonly believed -- it was
swallowed by the dunes."
While the theory flies in the face of traditional views of Atlantis, Dr.
Sage points to tantalizing evidence that supports the Sahara model.
Nomadic desert Bedouins, especially after sandstorms, often see marble
columns sticking up out of dunes, notably near the Ahaggar Mountains of
southern Algeria, the British expert reveals.
Even more surprising, scientists have discovered that within
comparatively recent times in geological terms, the Sahara region
enjoyed a temperate climate that would have made it an ideal site for
human civilization.
"Eleven thousand to 12,000 years ago, when the ancient Greeks say
Atlantis flourished, the Sahara was lush, fertile land," Dr. Sage
observes.
"Artwork etched in Saharan rocks at that time depicts giraffes roaming
freely. Archaeologists have also found pictograms of domesticated
cattle, horse-drawn chariots, as well as large caravans -- confirming
that trade played an important role in the region."
But the alarmingly rapid transformation of the region from paradise to
dry desert would have wiped out all agriculture and killed off
livestock.
"More significantly, as sand encroached on the empire, clogging caravan
wheels, it made travel nearly impossible -- which would have put an end
to an empire based on trade," Dr. Sage says.
"It was not until centuries later, around 100 B.C., that people began to
use camels for transportation in the region -- an innovation that came
too late for Atlantis, long since buried and forgotten under the dunes."
A few diehards continue to believe that Atlantis was literally a
continent in the midst of the Atlantic Ocean.
But most modern experts agree that theory was blown out of the water in
1912 when scientist Alfred Wegener demonstrated that the known
continents once fit neatly together like a jigsaw puzzle and have
drifted apart over the eons.
Although Plato, drawing upon earlier accounts, wrote of a watery end to
the great Atlantean civilization, Dr. Sage believes that the ancient
Greek philosopher misinterpreted an Egyptian word meaning "movement of
water."
"It was not water deluging Atlantis, but the departure of water from the
region, that caused the calamity," she says.
Next spring, the expert hopes to lead an international expedition,
including archaeologists from the United States, Britain, France, Egypt
and Saudi Arabia, that will begin combing the 3.5 million-square-mile
desert using high-tech equipment in search of traces of the lost empire.
"I am convinced that buried beneath that vast, arid no-man's-land we
will find Atlantis," Dr. Sage declares.
Published on: 11/21/2003
http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/conspiracies/59893
