Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Atlantis Discovered At Last? U.S.-led research team may have finally located the lost city of Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami thousands of years ago, in mud flats in southern Spain. "This is the power of tsunamis," head researcher Richard Freund told Reuters.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42072469/ns/technology_and_science-science/

31 comments:

  1. This is way cool, Doug - will watch the upcoming digs with great interest....

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  2. This is really sad Doug, I was just about to logg off here but shall come back tomorrow.

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  3. I shall come back and look tomorrow as this looks interesting. Best regards there Doug

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  4. Me too Will. Turns out Plato might have been sober when he wrote those dialouges and such after all ;-)

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  5. Yes, I agree Mike. And it's ironic given that this story broke just after the terrible developments in Japan.

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  6. Very interesting find Doug. Thanks for the post.

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  7. Lets hope this one is the "real" Atlantis Doug, but whatever it is the excavations will be interesting. As you point out the concept of Atlantis has been around at least since the time of Plato and the mythical land has 'appeared' in various locations all around the globe over the years and not all of them in the Atlantic Ocean. I hope there is something of interest here Doug, it is about time that the Donana Park had something good happen to it. Somewhere around 12 -13 years ago there was a major eco-disaster there, so if it is the home of Atlantis it is one where tragedies are not unknown. Thanks for drawing attention to this research Doug, I look forward to discovering more as further findings emerge

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  8. This certainly places more to what we are seeing within the present. And how ironic this came to be. This really is something that really hits to the core. History and nature have a way of repeating. Yet you would think that with the technology we have - then again we do. There could have been something done with Japan before this - yet they don't utilize coal nor natural gas. I am still trying to gain more of an understanding on all of this as it did shock the heck out of myself.

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  9. Be a shame if it turns out to be somethibng stupid like a giant UFO crash site, Fred. Ho-hum. You can get those places in New Mexico. ;-)

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  10. I'll have to do more looking into that eco-disaster, AA. You're welcome of course.

    I know some have thought the Minoan culture on Crete and adjoining islands was somehow linked part of Atlantis--perhaps a colony was started in Spain. But as you say, the location has never been fixed.

    A lot of "mythical" places have proven to at least have a serious basis in archeological fact--the various layers of urban settlement that Heinrich Schliemann discovered over a century ago and what I believe is now accepted to be the spot where Troy stood in Mycenean and Hittite times for instance.

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  11. The Japanese governments have really gone full force for nuclear power,Jack. Its technology driven which is their long suit given that they have to import all their energy from what I understand. I thnk a lot of the world is going to be geting off nuclear reliance now--even the Chinese are reconsidering their situation vis a vi nuclear power.

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  12. I have come to the conclusion that the ruined Atlantis has a few well tuned engines, because it really shifts about.

    Plato records the geographical location of Atlantis as being beyond the Pillars of Heracles, which is beyond the entrance to the Mediterranean sea according to him. Plato also states that it was easy to cross from Atlantis to other islands, so where were they?

    I await the lost city and knowledge of its final resting place. They think it will have been washed along on a sea of mud. I'm not really sure it exists.

    I have traced this city close to Greece, Malta and Spain. I have even read theories of it being close to the once ice free, Antarctica.
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    The link is interesting, thank you Doug.

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  13. Yes, I agree the various locations cited for Atlantis shows the place has no moss growing in the cracks of its sidewalks, Cassandra. :-)

    I hope we have something here that will be identified and linked to another ancient civilization. It's likely Plato got this story from somewhere, but from where? And what about these islands?

    So many places--like the rows of megaliths at Stonehenge and other cites in Britain and Ireland--still have their mysteries contained within the silent stones even though we have easy access to them. It could be a case of a mystery uncovered that will lead to more speculations.

    But I hope Plato was onto something.

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  14. Sorry Doug, I see I have written Malta there, when I meant Gibraltar. It was thought the situation near the Straits of Gibraltar at least rendered some of Plato's geographical comments plausible.

    Plato also mentioned great banks of mud blocking the entrance to the straits

    Indeed we no sooner get excited about some new location than it is shot down in flames. I look forward to seeing what this new site turns up, although is it that new?

    There are many places that keep us guessing and although I'd like to know more, part of me loves the mystery.

    Oh yes, it would be nice if Plato looked down from his cloud and said, "I told you so!" :-)

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  15. I agree with you Doug as there without a motive to my vicinity there will be a move back to natural gas - I feel right now.

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  16. Plato also believed in Philosopher Kings or the enlightened men of society forced from their divine contemplations and compelled by logic to run the city.....he has been accused of inspiring 20th century totalitarianism with such visions.

    If he could be so wrong about democracy steered toward perfection by "those who love the sight of truth"...why should his writings on Atlantis be seen as any more credible?

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  17. I'm rather the same way Cassandra. The desire to search and speculate (and dream a bit) is just as strong if not stronger than to fully know about a mysterious subject for me.

    Yes, let's hope Plato can feel a little vindication on this point.

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  18. According to Bertrand Russell, Plato and his crew got a lot of their ideas from Sparta, especially those laid out in "The Republic".

    He seemed to value in Lord Russell's view a type of social stability that bordered on proto-fascism, something that Athens didn't have because it was a more raucous political environment.

    Even eugenics rears its ugly head in the way certain males and females are selected by the guardians to be breeding couples. (What's the matter with just asking a girl out on a date first, and getting to know one another? ;-)

    I remember having to read and reflect on "The Republic" a couple times in school. Not my kind of place I determined.

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  19. I think people in the rank and file aren't going to want to go toward nuclear fuel, Jack. It is just too dangerous and flat-out expensive.

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  20. In Plato's Critias he talks quite positively about Atlantis and its site. He speaks of Atlantis and its islands and as you will know, the huge earthquake and mud bank. At the beginning of this particular dialogue it gives a few thoughts on why the story finished to leave the reader guessing. However people view Plato, I think he was quite a man and could tell a darn good story.

    That is what I like about Philosophy, the search for the truth, leading ever onward.

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  21. Pity we all have to bleedin-well live 'ere in Plato's footnote then innit Doug?

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  22. Looking back over the outlines of "Critias", Cassandra, it seems that Plato believed this lost civilization was a threat to Athens that was defeated by human and later natural forces (abetted by the gods in some cases) .

    No question Plato gives his worth as a storyteller and as a keen intellect who could make a strong case. One can view some of his particular conclusions as a mistake, but not in the provocative and thoughtful way he presents the case for them.

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  23. If "all philosophy is a footnote on Plato", as someone said, then we are indeed a bit limited on our options, AA.

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  24. It has been said that the earlier works of Plato holds most of the truth in what he wrote, but then by the time he got to his Timaeus and the Critias he felt the need to liven things up a bit. Even if the story of Atlantis is a Myth, I rather like it. I don't know why, but I always had visions of Lotus eaters completely stoned out of their minds resting under coconut trees. :-)

    Yes, he was a great storyteller. I would imagine he learned from the Master, that if you don't hype it up a bit you lose your audience.

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  25. Yes ,and no exams for students or mundane tasks for full-fledged adults to take care of either. :-)

    I suppose if Atlantis dosen't exist, Cassandra, we'd still need to invent the a place. Atlantis. Or Xanadu. Or Shangri-La. A place we can get away and see new horizons. (Or see stars whirling before one's eyes if one of those coconuts breaks loose and lands square on one's head!.)


    at least always enjoy a good stretch of the truth for entertainment value. There's a fine and deep American literary tradition of storytellers stretching the truth. It's great when a figure like Mark Twain did it in his public lectures, and W.C. Fields a generation ot two later tols some keen whoppers in his radio apparences and movies.

    With politicans the hype can be more problematical; especially when, unlike Mr. Twain, they cannot bring themselves to admit their anecdotes are gussied-up falsehoods.

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  26. Ah, no exams, a good few students would live easier without those.

    The thing is, in our modern world there's a need to shoot everything down in flames. Hahahaha, yes, I'm sure a coconut landing on the head from a great height would produce some amazing stars, or take away all worries completely!

    I always remember the words I read some time ago, 'the politician who is campaigning for a seat, isn't the man you get when voted in.' This is proving oh so true for us right now.

    A nice little find of the ruins of Atlantis would be such a super connection with the ancient world, wouldn't it?

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  27. I agree societies are more negative than past generations, Cassandra. More young people are more afraid of being seen as naive to believe in a cause or a person and I was not immune from that in my younger days either.

    Another part of this problem I think is that with so many media outlets, there is more need to fill the time-slots with talkative pundits. These "worthies" tend to be negative-minded people who don't have very open minds--that makes them predictable to their fans and commercial sponsors. The Internet is filled with anonymous people making snarky comments of course.

    Yes, I've noticed this lack of consistency among local and national leaders in the USA as well. It seemss that when people get elected they find it easier to cut programs for education or home health care assistance to the elderly than to stand up to powerful lobbyists. The adage "money is the mother's milk of politicans" is a good adage as well I say.

    Yes, there are so many Mediterrean civilizations from ancient times which we have incomplete knowledge about. If only we could spend one percent of what the nations spend on armaments to discovering and/or researching such sites!

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