Atlantis & Lemuria

Rome, October 13 - Top scholars have gathered in Rome this week to discuss the exciting and controversial idea that Sardinia is the lost island of Atlantis . The theory, developed in a book by the Italian journalist Sergio Frau, has drawn international acclaim but also fuelled heated criticism .Despite selling 30,000 copies in Italy, a detailed 20-point appeal by 250 academics has dismissed the book, claiming it sensationalizes Sardinian history .But the theory received a major boost last year, when the United Nations cultural heritage body UNESCO organized a symposium on the issue in Paris, suggesting the idea was worth serious consideration. Academics, archaeologists, geologists and historians from across Italy are now meeting in Rome's Accademia dei Lincei tolook at the theory in closer depth and discuss possible paths of future research .The meeting has also been timed to coincide with the opening of an exhibition on Frau's ideas, originally shown in Paris last year.

"Atlantika" uses Frau's book, "The Pillars of Hercules", as a springboard for exploring theories and ideas on the legendary island and its whereabouts. Neither the location nor the existence of Atlantis have ever been confirmed .The first documented mention of the island dates back to ancient Greek philosopher Plato - circa 427-347 BC - who said it was destroyed by a natural disaster, possibly a tsunami .Traditional theories have placed it somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean because Plato said it was beyond the Pillars of Hercules which, according to another ancient writer, Erathosthenes, were at the Strait of Gibraltar .But Frau believesErathosthenes, a librarian and geographer who lived in Alexandria in the third and second centuries BC, got it wrong and that the Pillars of Hercules were actually on Sicily .Frau had his brainwave after seeing a print of two maps of the Mediterranean as it was in the Bronze Age .One showed Tunisia and Sicily almost touching; the other, of the Straits of Gibraltar, was remarkably similar .Frau thinks Erathosthenes moved the pillars because in the 120 years between Plato's era and his, the Greek world changed dramatically, and the strait between Sicily and Africa was no longer at the outer reaches of the Empire .

View: Full Article | Source: Ansa.it

A rectangular shaped feature that looks like a street grid in the middle of the sea has been spotted on Google Ocean.It was spotted by an aeronautical engineer who said that it resembled an aerial map of a city, given its location some believe that the feature represents the resting place of the fabled Atlantis. The network of criss-cross linesis 620 miles off the coast of north west Africa near the Canary Islands on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.

The perfect rectangle – which is around the size of Wales – was noticed on the search giant"s underwater exploration tool by an aeronautical engineer who claims it looks like an "aerial map" of a city.

View: Full article | Source: Telegraph

Archaeologists are searching for an ancient civilization in Spain that could help pinpoint the lost city of Atlantis.The Tartessian civilization developed in Southern Spain between the 11th and 7th centuries BC and has long been linked to the fabled Atlantis. A team of researchersfrom Spain"s Higher Council for Scientific Study (CSIC) are examining a marshy area of Andalusian parkland to find evidence of a 3,000-year-old settlement.

View: Full article | Source: Telegraph.

An unidentified group have released a series of grainy photographs showing undersea ruins of an ancient city that is being claimed to be the fabled Atlantis. They are however keeping the location of the find a secret. "A group of'undersea archaeologists' have become the latest to claim they have uncovered the lost city of Atlantis.

The scientists - who have refused to identify themselves - have released a series of images taken beneath the Caribbean." View: Full Article | Source: Daily Mail