Atlantis the Lost Continent Finally Found

by Arysio Santos

  So, let us all be open-minded and magnanimous, and provisionally consider the “Pillars of Hercules” in question here to be the same as the Bosphorus Strait, which leads from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. For Crete, we do not even need to posit new “Pillars of Hercules” in the Greek islands, as some proponents of this site have done in the past. We might accept these.

  The Bosphorus Strait is located near Istanbul (ancient Byzantium), which can be seen in the same map of the Mediterranean region linked above, between Greece and Turkey. Byzantium was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, which lasted until well after the onset of the Middle Ages. This capital commanded this crucial strait commercially and militarily. This strait allowed ingress to the Black Sea and to Eastern Europe, and was hence very strategic in antiquity.

  With the advent of Christianity, Byzantium became named Constantinople, the “City of [Emperor] Constantine”. King Constantine was of course the famous patron of Christianity. And Constantine was also the man responsible for the death of Paganism, which he outlawed in the whole Eastern Roman Empire, fiercely persecuting all those who preferred to profess it.

  The Bosphorus was considered to be the site of the “Pillars of Hercules” even before the name of these famous features was transplanted to the region of Gibraltar, where it remains stuck down to the present time. In reality, bosporus or bosphorus (or bosporos or bosphoros, rather, the Greek words from which the Latin name derives) means “cattle passage, oxford” precisely because Hercules was said to have crossed there with the cattle he rustled from Geryon, in Erytheia.

  In later times this name was attributed to the crossing of the mortal girl Io, the beloved of Zeus, in the shape of a cow. No matter what, these “pillars” may be considered acceptable by all but the hardiest of skeptics. We want to give all our competitors the benefit of doubt. With this, Crete may in fact be considered to be located “in front of the Pillars of Hercules”.

  So may Malta, and for that matter, Cyprus, if we are broad-minded and tolerant enough, as can be seen in the same map. And so may Syrtis, in Libya and Schliemann’s phony “Troy” (or Hissarlik). (See map of Mediterranean region linked above.) But Morocco, another frequently proposed site, cannot, given the fact that it lies outside Gibraltar, and hardly in front of the Bosphorus. So, let us stick to the sites just mentioned, leaving Morocco for the next section.

  Robert Sarmast and the Cyprus’ “Discovery”

  Let us now consider Cyprus, the object of the proposal recently made by Robert Sarmast, an Atlantologist who dedicated a considerable amount of time and, allegedly, money into this research of the seafloor in the region in his recent book: Discovery of Atlantis (Mt. Shasta, CA, 2003). Sarmast is a self-proclaimed researcher and has used a detailed study of the topography of the Mediterranean seafloor in the region of Cyprus done by oil prospecting companies working there.

  Sarmast also claims that his Atlantis site accords with “51 out of 53 features given by Plato”. Alas, Sarmast’s research seems sorely flawed and doomed from the start. Besides, on reading his book it is essentially impossible to see how any of the claimed features of his site can ever be made to coincide with the ones given in detail by Plato: very extensive agricultural plains; abundant mineral resources; vast forests (Cyprus has always imported firewood and timber), and so on.

  The fact that this site hinges, as the author himself admits, on the hypothesis that the Mediterranean Basin was dry as recently as 10 to 12 thousand years ago – the epoch of Atlantis’ cataclysm – turns it into a virtual geological impossibility.

  According to this author, the Mediterranean Sea was closed off from the Atlantic Ocean by a dam across Gibraltar. This dam, he says, broke off at the date of the Atlantean cataclysm, and a monumental flood “swallowed up” the whole region of Atlantis in a terrible day and a night of pain, very much as Plato himself affirms.

  But how is this possible if this flooding, even if real, was necessarily extremely slow and gradual rather than sudden and violent as Sarmast thinks?

  The fact is that this flooding of the Mediterranean Sea actually lasted a full millennium or two. This rate of filling corresponds to something like 6 millimeters per day, something hard to perceive in practice. Some researchers in fact propose far larger rates of filling – reducing the time of flooding to something like 20 years or so. Even then, this rate corresponds to only about 1 centimeter /hour.

  An annoyance, certainly, but far less than a disaster such as the Great Flood described by Plato, which occurred in the space “of a single day and a night of pain”. People would have ample time to evacuate the region, annoyed, it is true, but otherwise unharmed.

  But there are other aspects of Sarmast’s theory that are even harder to believe. Many, many thousands of competent marine geologists – both scholarly and lay – have studied the Mediterranean seafloor with all types of sophisticated equipment such as side-scan sonar, multiple beam sonars, ROVs equipped with TV cameras, minisubs, oceanographic ships and so on.

  It is hard to believe that they all failed to observe what Sarmast – an amateur at best – claims to have actually discovered. And their verdict is unanimous: the Mediterranean Sea has been full since about 5.2 million years ago, that is, since Miocenic times.

  But what is even more incredible is Sarmast’s claim that – in order to adequately comply with his theory – the Mediterranean had to be neither full nor empty, but stuck in between these two extremes in an essentially perfect equilibrium.

  According to this researcher (see his book, pg. 132f.), the Mediterranean Sea is about 3,100 meters deep in the region where he sites his “Atlantis”, which is however located at a depth of 1,650 meters or, just about midway between the two extremes.

  Moreover, this intermediate depth had to be essentially constant for many tens of thousands of years, in order to allow the Atlantis Civilization to flourish and develop from scratch, as it is said to have done. And then, this situation had to endure until the date of Atlantis’ demise, 11,600 years ago, the date given by Plato.

  Now, this is an essential impossibility in geological practice. If Gibraltar Strait is closed (forming an isthmus), the Mediterranean Sea fast dries up, as it is known to be filled from the Atlantic Ocean inflow, as Sarmast himself admits.

  On the other hand, if the strait is open, the Mediterranean fills up in a matter of mere decades or at best a millennium or two, leaving no time for Sarmast’s “Atlantis” to exist one way or the other. Once started, the process of opening feeds on itself (by means of a positive feedback) and is fast led to completion and the opening of the rather large channel.

  As we all know, the burden of proof is incumbent on the proponent. So, we eagerly wait to see how Sarmast will account for this obvious inconformity of his would-be Atlantis.

  After I had written the above piece, Sarmast has been in the media a lot with his expedition to the site of Cyprus, made with the help of an oceanographic ship. I wrote a Statement on that, which I posted in my Atlantis site, in order to orient my readers against what I consider both an obvious hoax and a possible scam. ↑085

  As a serious researcher of Atlantis, I consider it my duty to the public to come out and to point out to them the more obvious scammers and charlatans. This subject is also being currently discussed in our Atlantis Forum, where the readers of this text may read and comment on this alleged discovery.

  Sarmast’s alleged “find” – of what he claims to be the Acropolis and the walls and Great Plain of Atlantis – was soon dismissed as a mere “mud-spilling volcano” by the specialists working in this region of the Mediterranean Sea.

  The location of his “find” is, according to the GPS data he posted in his site, just off Cyprus, at a depth of 1,650 meters and more. But, in contrast to what he alleges, this deep region was never subaerial, at least during the last 5.2 million years or so.

  This remote date precedes the rise of humans on earth. so, it could never have been the site of Atlantis, despite Sarmast’s spe
cious claims. By the way, the dramatic event that Sarmast shows in his site (“New animation file of the Mediterranean basin flooding”, in windows media) embodies at least three or more gross errors (or impossibilities) which can only fool the more gullible persons; these are:

  ● First, the alleged “sea of Atlantis” is only an inland lake distant and isolated from Gibraltar and from the Ocean. So, how could Atlantis ever have developed into a naval power whose ports were frequented by most nations of the world, according to Plato’s detailed description?

  ● Second, the dramatic “flood” event Sarmast illustrates in his site with an animation never happened. The filling of the Mediterranean Sea took tens or even thousands of years to occur, as we just pointed out above and, in more detail, in our Statement on it just linked. So, this is just another

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  illusion created by computer graphics but which in no way corresponds to real events taking place either in the times of Atlantis, as alleged, or 5.2 million years ago, as experts have unanimously concluded.

  ● It is a miracle that the isolated “sea” or “lake” of Atlantis would have exactly the right depth (about 1,650 meters below present sea level) in order to make Sarmast’s “Atlantis” come alive the way he wants. The Mediterranean Sea – and most others, by the way – simply does not behave this way. As a myriad researchers have concluded from their detailed in situ investigations of the seafloor, it is either wholly dry or wholly filled, and never half-full, as Sarmast alleges. So, unless Sarmast is prepared to provide compelling evidence of what he idly affirms, his claims have to be considered rubbish, until proved by him or accepted by other independent researchers.

  No Such Cataclysm Ever in the Times of Man

  Ingenious as Sarmast’s proposal might sound to the more gullible public, its main fault lies in the fact that no such cataclysm, even though possibly imagined by some inventive writers, ever happened in the Mediterranean Sea at all at the recent dates normally associated with Atlantis.

  This is a well established geological fact, and it is rather foolish to insist on proposing a theory that is overruled by irrefutable scientific facts such as the ones attested by the ample sedimentological records now available from hundreds of independent researchers.

  Moreover, Bob Sarmast further postulates serial openings and closures of the Mediterranean Sea at Gibraltar, with a dry Mediterranean Sea being catastrophically filled at the geologically recent date of Atlantis’ demise some 11,600 BP. And Sarmast repeatedly affirms that this date is impossible to scientifically establish on empirical grounds. Is it really?

  Robert Sarmast is really no scientist. Moreover, this allegation of his is, to put it bluntly, false. In fact, there is a host of viable scientific techniques, all quite reliable and accurate. Marine sediments are normally composed of an “ooze” full of fossil microorganisms such as Globigerina, whose carbonate shells can be quite adequately dated by radiocarbon methods and corrected by techniques such as dendrochronology, as is current nowadays.

  The dating accuracy of this method is now better than a couple of decades, more than adequate for the present purposes. In practice, a drillcore is obtained from the seafloor by an oceanographic ship equipped with a coring rig. Each layer corresponds to a specific date, so that the history of any specific maritime spot can be determined in a very reliable way by Sedimentology. ↑086

  When the region is dry (subaerial) no such globigerina sediments form, and the nature of the deposits is unmistakably different. The history of the Mediterranean – and in fact most seas – has been studied in this and other ways, invariably with the same results.

  Basically, Gibraltar Strait was first opened some 10 Mya [Megayears ago]. It later closed again, but has remained open since about 5.2 Mya, as indicated by the ooze deposits collected directly on the Mediterranean seafloor. So, there can be no question of the Mediterranean Sea being dry or half full down to as recently as 11,600 years ago, the date of Atlantis’ demise.

  Again, if anyone proposes that such was indeed the case, despite the compelling contrary evidence, the burden of proof is incumbent on him or her. Until then, all we can do is wait for that proof, before we can even consider the region around Cyprus as a possible site of Atlantis. This region is under the 1,000 meters isobath, and hence far under the global lowering of sea level which in fact took place in the Ice Age, which was only about 130-150 meters or so.

  Bob Ballard and the Black Sea Flood

  Sarmast’s flood story closely parallels the one of the so-called Black Sea Flood, which has also been in the media a lot the last few years. Alas, despite all the media hype – always bent on misinforming the public – this theory of the Flood is also similarly doomed from the start according to most specialists who do not have an axe to grind. ↑087

  The present scientific consensus is that the Black Sea flooding, even if real, was very slow and gradual enough to be not at all catastrophic. On that, cf. here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here! ↑088

  Actually, the whole Black Sea research seems to have been a contrivance devised by the American Navy in order to have an excuse to spy on a strategic location. The Black Sea is tactical to the Russian Navy, which uses it as the exit into the Mediterranean Sea for its ships and its nuclear subs. Hence the curiosity of the Americans who, even though the Cold War is long over, like to keep an eye on the Russians.

  No matter what, the very expensive research – equipped with the Alvin Submersible, Navy ships and subs, etc. – was wholly funded by the American Government, a highly unusual precedent, to say the least. Moreover, Bob Ballard is a retired Navy officer. Some people even say that Bob Sarmast also is. But this seems to be intrigue, even though Cyprus too is a political sore spot.

  Moreover, the hypothesis of the Mediterranean Sea flooding is invariably rejected by most experts, Creationists included. Now, this rejection by Creationists is curious, as they ardently seek any confirmation of the Biblical Flood.

  Creationists generally consider the Flood to have taken place in the Near East region. What this means is that the Black Sea flooding, even if factual, is too local and too slow to satisfy even them. How could such a petty, local event ever be deemed universal? Reach the distant Americas? Have been so wildly exaggerated in its consequences by whoever wrote its biblical description?

  No matter what, even if these local cataclysms – either the one of the Black Sea or that of the Mediterranean Sea – were in fact real, it is hard to see how they would come to be regarded as the Universal Flood. This, of course, in contrast to the brutal rise in sea level which in fact took place at the end of the Ice Age, which in my opinion was the true culprit.

  Too many things are missing here for a connection of this event with the Universal Flood to be acceptable by any but the more gullible: the global character; the interminable tempests; the sudden floods and giant waves (tsunamis); the volcanic eruptions (conflagrations); the catastrophic nature; the universal diffusion of the myth, the widespread mortality, the correct dates, etc..

  It is known that even if the Black Sea flood actually took place as claimed, sea level rise in the region – said to have occurred at the meager rate of one foot/day or less, that is, about one centimeter per hour – would have been slow enough to allow people and cattle to leisurely move to the obvious safety of the mountainous regions. ↑089

  The same thing would also probably be true of the Mediterranean Sea, and even more so, given the fact that its basin is far larger than that of the Black Sea. So, one way or the other, these events were far from catastrophic, at least in the way claimed by Plato, the Bible and the other very extensive mythology on the Flood, a myth existing among essentially all peoples on earth.

  But this event, if it ever occurred at all, even on the dramatic scale imagined by its proponents, took place several millions of years ago, when Mankind did not even exist at all.

  Again, it is very difficult to accept that these relatively petty, localized
cataclysms, even if real, would have had the impact the Universal Flood did in remote locations such as the Americas, Oceania and the Far East as a whole. Plato specifically speaks of a global, violent cataclysm of fire and water which took place “in a single day and a night of pain”.

  This type of global catastrophe is suggestive of a supervolcanism or a giant tsunami, in contrast to this gradual filling out of the seas, which took place in the course of centuries or even millennia. That these Near Eastern floods were not volcanic in nature is proved by the fact that no volcanoes exist in the regions concerned: Cyprus, Gibraltar, the Bosporus, Palestine, and so forth.

  All in all, attractive as these hypotheses might seem to some, they must be discarded until proven and verified to have been as violent, universal and catastrophic as claimed.

  Curiously enough, the tradition of the Black Sea Flood seems to have been recorded in the local Flood myths, even though it did not occur in the times of Man. It is also curious to observe that Sarmast, even though claiming to be a mythologist, did not avail himself of these myths on the Mediterranean Sea in order to support his bold thesis. One Flood myth from Turkey tells how: ↑090

  Iskender-Iulcarni (Alexander the Great), in the course of his conquests, demanded tribute from Katife, Queen of Smyrna. She refused insultingly, and threatened to drown the king if he persisted. Enraged at her insolence, the conqueror determined to punish the queen by drowning her in a great flood. He employed Moslem and infidel workmen to make a strait of the Bosphorus, paying the infidel workmen one-fifth as much as the Moslems got. When the canal was nearly completed, he reversed the pay arrangements, giving the Moslems only one-fifth as much as the infidels.

  The Moslems quit in disgust and left the infidels to finish the canal. The Black Sea swept away the last dike and drowned the workmen. The Flood spread over Queen Katife’s country (drowning her) and several cities in Africa. The whole world would have been engulfed, but IskenderIulcarni was prevailed upon to open the Strait of Gibraltar, letting the Mediterranean escape into the ocean. Evidence of the Flood can still be seen in the form of drowned cities on the coast of Africa and ship moorings high above the coast of the Black Sea.