Editing Atlantis (section)

==Location hypotheses==
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{{Main|Location hypotheses of Atlantis}}
Since Donnelly's day, there have been dozens of locations proposed for Atlantis, to the point where the name has become a generic concept, divorced from the specifics of Plato's account. This is reflected in the fact that many proposed sites are not within the Atlantic at all. Few today are scholarly or archaeological hypotheses, while others have been made by [[psychic]] (e.g., [[Edgar Cayce]]) or other [[pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] means. (The Atlantis researchers Jacques Collina-Girard and Georgeos Díaz-Montexano, for instance, each claim the other's hypothesis is pseudoscience.)<ref>Collina-Girard, Jacques, ''L'Atlantide retrouvée: enquête scientifique autour d'un mythe'' (Paris: Belin – pour la science, 2009).</ref> Many of the proposed sites share some of the characteristics of the Atlantis story (water, catastrophic end, relevant time period), but none has been demonstrated to be a true historical Atlantis.

[[File:Crop of ISS067-E-153820 Santorini caldera.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|The [[Santorini caldera]] on 24 June 2022, taken from the International Space Station. From the [[Minoan eruption]] event, and the 1964 discovery of [[Akrotiri (prehistoric city)|Akrotiri]] on the island, this location is one of many sites purported to have been the location of Atlantis.]]

===In or near the Mediterranean Sea===

Most of the historically proposed locations are in or near the Mediterranean Sea: islands such as [[Sardinia]],<ref>Valente Poddighe, Paolo. ''Atlantide Sardegna: Isola dei Faraoni'' (Atlantis Sardinia: Island of the Pharaohs). Stampacolor</ref><ref>Frau, Sergio. ''Le Colonne d'Ercole. Un'inchiesta. La prima geografia. Tutt'altra storia''. Nur Neon 2002</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Evin |first=Florence |date=15 August 2015 |title=Was Sardinia home to the mythical civilisation of Atlantis? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/15/bronze-age-sardinia-archaeology-atlantis |access-date=14 January 2022 |website=The Guardian}}</ref> [[Crete]], [[Santorini]] (Thera), [[Sicily]], [[Cyprus]], and [[Malta]]; land-based cities or states such as [[Troy]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Zangger |first=Eberhard |title=The Flood from Heaven: Deciphering the Atlantis legend |location=New York |publisher=William Morrow and Company |date=1993}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=August 2021}} [[Tartessos]], and Tantalis (in the province of [[Manisa]], [[Turkey]]);<ref>{{cite book|last1=James|first1=Peter|last2=Thorpe|first2=Nick|title=Ancient Mysteries|url=https://archive.org/details/ancientmysteries0000jame|url-access=registration|date=1999|publisher=Ballantine Books|location=New York City, New York|isbn=978-0-345-43488-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ancientmysteries0000jame/page/16 16–41]}}</ref> [[Israel]]-[[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]] or [[Canaan]];{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}} and northwestern Africa,<ref>{{cite web |title=Plato's Atlantis in South Morocco? |url=http://asalas.org/doku.php |publisher=Asalas.org |access-date=27 December 2009 |archive-date=11 December 2009 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091211073030/http://asalas.org/doku.php }}</ref> including the [[Richat Structure]] in [[Mauritania]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article263581168.html |title=Origin of surreal 'Eye of the Sahara' debated – yet again – after NASA shares photo |work=Miami Herald |last=Price |first=Mark |date=22 July 2022 |access-date=6 November 2022}}</ref>

The [[Minoan eruption|Thera eruption]], dated to the seventeenth or sixteenth century BC, caused a large [[tsunami]] that some experts hypothesize devastated the [[Minoan civilization]] on the nearby island of Crete, further leading some to believe that this may have been the catastrophe that inspired the story.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6568053.stm |title=The wave that destroyed Atlantis |first=Harvey |last=Lilley |publisher=BBC News |date=20 April 2007 |access-date=6 December 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bruins |first=Hendrik J. |year=2008 |title=Geoarchaeological tsunami deposits at Palaikastro (Crete) and the Late Minoan IA eruption of Santorini |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=191–212 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2007.08.017 |bibcode=2008JArSc..35..191B |display-authors=etal |url=https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/files/6712369/2008JArchaeolSciBruins.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/files/6712369/2008JArchaeolSciBruins.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|hdl=11370/01bb92b9-dc59-47b2-bac7-63ad80afb745 |s2cid=43944032 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> In the area of the [[Black Sea]] the following locations have been proposed: [[Bosporus]] and [[Ancomah]] (a legendary place near [[Trabzon]]).

Others have noted that, before the sixth century BC, the mountains on either side of the [[Laconian Gulf]] were called the "Pillars of Hercules",<ref name="Davis, J.L 1990"/><ref name="Castleden, Rodney 1998 p6"/> and they could be the geographical location being described in ancient reports upon which Plato was basing his story. The mountains stood at either side of the southernmost gulf in Greece, the largest in the [[Peloponnese]], and that gulf opens onto the Mediterranean Sea.

If from the beginning of discussions, misinterpretation of Gibraltar as the location rather than being at the Gulf of Laconia, would lend itself to many erroneous concepts regarding the location of Atlantis. Plato may have not been aware of the difference. The Laconian pillars open to the south toward Crete and beyond which is Egypt. The [[Thera eruption]] and the [[Late Bronze Age collapse]] affected that area and might have been the devastation to which the sources used by Plato referred. Significant events such as these would have been likely material for tales passed from one generation to another for almost a thousand years.

===In the Atlantic Ocean===
[[File:Atlantic Ocean surface.jpg|thumb|The mid-atlantic ridge in the Atlantic]]
The location of Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean has a certain appeal given the closely related names. Popular culture often places Atlantis there, perpetuating the original Platonic setting as they understand it. The [[Canary Islands]] and [[Madeira Islands]] have been identified as a possible location,<ref name=Canarias>{{cite book|last=Afonso|first=Leoncio|author-link=Leoncio Afonso|title=Geografía física de Canarias: Geografía de Canarias|year=1980|publisher=Editorial Interinsular Canaria|isbn=978-84-85543-15-1|page=11|chapter=El mito de la Atlántida|language=es}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Rodríguez Hernández|first=María Jesús|title=Imágenes de Canarias 1764–1927. Historia y ciencia|year=2011|publisher=Fundación Canaria Orotava|isbn=978-84-614-5110-4|page=38|language=es}}</ref><ref name=Madeira-Azores>{{cite book|last=Sweeney|first=Emmet|title=Atlantis: The Evidence of Science|year=2010|publisher=Algora Publishing|isbn=978-0-87586-771-7|page=84}}</ref><ref name=Vidal-Naquet>{{cite book|last=Vidal-Naquet|first=Pierre|title=L'Atlantide: Petite histoire d'un mythe platonicien|year=2005|publisher=Belles Lettres|isbn=978-2-251-38071-1|page=92|language=fr}}</ref> west of the Straits of Gibraltar, but in relative proximity to the Mediterranean Sea. Detailed studies of their geomorphology and geology have demonstrated, however, that they have been steadily uplifted, without any significant periods of subsidence, over the last four million years, by geologic processes such as erosional unloading, gravitational unloading, lithospheric flexure induced by adjacent islands, and volcanic underplating.<ref name="MenendezOthers2009">Menendez, I., P.G. Silva, M. Martín-Betancor, F.J. Perez-Torrado, H. Guillou, and S. Scaillet, 2009, ''Fluvial dissection, isostatic uplift, and geomorphological evolution of volcanic islands (Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain)'' Geomorphology. v. 102, no.1, pp. 189–202.</ref><ref name="MecoOthers2007">Meco J., S. Scaillet, H. Guillou, A. Lomoschitz, J.C. Carracedo, J. Ballester, J.-F. Betancort, and A. Cilleros, 2007, ''Evidence for long-term uplift on the Canary Islands from emergent Mio–Pliocene littoral deposits.'' Global and Planetary Change. v. 57, no. 3-4, pp. 222–234.</ref>

Various islands or island groups in the Atlantic were also identified as possible locations, notably the [[Azores]].<ref name=Madeira-Azores /><ref name=Vidal-Naquet /> Similarly, cores of sediment covering the ocean bottom surrounding the Azores and other evidence demonstrate that it has been an undersea plateau for millions of years.<ref name=HuangOther1979>Huang, T.C., N.D. Watkins, and L. Wilson, 1979, ''Deep-sea tephra from the Azores during the past 300,000 years: eruptive cloud height and ash volume estimates.'' Geological Society of America Bulletin. vol. 90, no. 2, pp. 131–133.</ref><ref name=DennielouOther1999>Dennielou, B. G.A. Auffret, A. Boelaert, T. Richter, T. Garlan, and R. Kerbrat, 1999, ''Control of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Gulf Stream over Quaternary sedimentation on the Azores Plateau.'' Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série II. Sciences de la Terre et des Planètes. v. 328, no. 12, pp. 831–837.,</ref> The area is known for its volcanism however, which is associated with rifting along the [[Azores triple junction]]. The spread of the crust along the existing faults and fractures has produced many volcanic and seismic events.<ref name="Ferreira, 2005, p. 4">Ferreira, 2005, p. 4</ref>

The area is supported by a buoyant upwelling in the deeper mantle, which some associate with an [[Azores hotspot]].<ref>Ting Yang, et al., 2006, p. 20</ref> Most of the volcanic activity has occurred primarily along the [[Terceira Rift]]. From the beginning of the islands' settlement, around the 15th century, there have been about 30 volcanic eruptions (terrestrial and submarine) as well as numerous, powerful earthquakes.<ref>{{cite conference |author=Carlos S. Oliveira |author2=Ragnar Sigbjörnsson |author3=Simon Ólafsson |date= 1–6 August 2004 |title=A Comparative Study on Strong Ground Motion in Two Volcanic Environments: Azores and Iceland |url=https://www.iitk.ac.in/nicee/wcee/article/13_2369.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.iitk.ac.in/nicee/wcee/article/13_2369.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |access-date=26 April 2016 |conference=13th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering}}</ref> The island of [[São Miguel Island|São Miguel]] in the Azores is the site of the [[Sete Cidades Massif|Sete Cidades volcano]] and caldera, which are the byproducts of historical volcanic activity in the Azores.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://mem.lyellcollection.org/content/44/1/87/tab-figures-data |author=G. Queiroz |author2=J. L. Gaspar |author3=J. E. Guest |author4=A. Gomes |author5=M. H. Almeida |title=Eruptive history and evolution of Sete Cidades Volcano, São Miguel Island, Azores |journal=Geological Society, London, Memoirs |publisher=Geological Society of London |date=16 September 2015 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=87–104 |doi=10.1144/M44.7 |s2cid=131501147}}</ref>

The submerged island of [[Spartel]] near the Strait of Gibraltar has also been suggested.<ref name=Antiquity />

===In Europe===
[[File:Doggerland.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|A map showing the hypothetical extent of [[Doggerland]] (c.&nbsp;8,000&nbsp;BC), which provided a land bridge between Great Britain and continental Europe]]
[[File:Doggerland3er_en.png|thumb|upright=1.15|A map showing the hypothetical extent of Doggerland from now back to the [[Weichselian glaciation]]]]
Several hypotheses place the sunken island in northern Europe, including [[Doggerland]] in the [[North Sea]], and [[Sweden]] (by [[Olof Rudbeck]] in ''[[Olaus Rudbeck#Historical linguistics|Atland]]'', 1672–1702). Doggerland, as well as Viking Bergen Island, is thought to have been flooded by a [[megatsunami]] following the [[Storegga Slide]] of c. 6100 BC. Some have proposed the [[Celtic Sea#Seabed|Celtic Shelf]] as a possible location, and that there is a link to Ireland.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Lovgren |first=Stefan |title=Atlantis "Evidence" Found in Spain and Ireland |magazine=[[National Geographic Magazine|National Geographic]] |date=19 August 2004 |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0819_040819_atlantis.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040820045716/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0819_040819_atlantis.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 August 2004 }}</ref> In 2004, Swedish [[Physical geography|physiographist]] Ulf Erlingsson<ref name=":0">{{Cite conference|conference=Atlantis Conference|location=Milos|last=Erlingsson|first=Ulf|date=11 July 2005|title=A geographic comparison of Plato's Atlantis and Ireland as a test of the megalithic culture hypothesis|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242275382}}</ref> proposed that the legend of Atlantis was based on Stone Age Ireland. He later stated that he does not believe that Atlantis ever existed but maintained that his hypothesis that its description matches Ireland's geography has a 99.8% probability. The director of the [[National Museum of Ireland]] commented that there was no archaeology supporting this.<ref>{{cite news |title=Swedish academic plays down Atlantis claims |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/swedish-academic-plays-down-atlantis-claims-1.987962 |access-date=22 August 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=19 August 2004 |language=en}}</ref>

In 2011, a team, working on a documentary for the [[National Geographic Channel]],<ref name="National Geographic">{{cite web|url=http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/finding-atlantis-4982/Overview |title=Finding Atlantis |publisher=National Geographic Channel |access-date=10 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707180542/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/finding-atlantis-4982/Overview |archive-date=7 July 2011 }}</ref> led by Professor Richard Freund from the [[University of Hartford]], claimed to have found possible evidence of Atlantis in southwestern [[Andalusia]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Howard|first=Zach|title=Lost city of Atlantis, swamped by tsunami, may be found|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tsunami-atlantis-idUSTRE72B2JR20110312|work=Reuters|access-date=13 March 2011|date=12 March 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110315070554/https://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/12/us-tsunami-atlantis-idUSTRE72B2JR20110312| archive-date= 15 March 2011 | url-status=live}}</ref> The team identified its possible location within the [[marsh]]lands of the [[Doñana National Park]], in [[Las Marismas|the area]] that once was the [[Lacus Ligustinus]],<ref>{{cite book|title=The Silent Past: Mysterious and forgotten cultures of the world|url=https://archive.org/details/silentpastmyster00liss|url-access=registration|author=Ivar Lissner|publisher=Putnam|year=1962|page=[https://archive.org/details/silentpastmyster00liss/page/156 156]}}</ref> between the [[Huelva Province|Huelva]], [[Cadiz Province|Cádiz]], and [[Seville province]]s, and they speculated that Atlantis had been destroyed by a [[tsunami]],<ref>{{cite magazine| url= https://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/14/lost-no-longer-researchers-claim-to-have-found-atlantis-off-mainland-spain/ |author=Zoe Fox| title=Science Lost No Longer? Researchers Claim to Have Found 'Atlantis' in Spain.|magazine=Time |date=14 March 2011| access-date=14 March 2011}}</ref> extrapolating results from a previous study by Spanish researchers, published four years earlier.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Geological Record of the Oldest Historical Tsunamis in Southwestern Spain |journal=Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia |author=Francisco Ruiz |author2=Manuel Abad |volume=114 |issue=1 |pages=145–154 |url=http://gte526.geoma.net/uploads/122469523654Ruiz%20et%20al%202008.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120040526/http://gte526.geoma.net/uploads/122469523654Ruiz%20et%20al%202008.pdf |archive-date=20 January 2012 |issn=0035-6883 |year=2008 |display-authors=etal }}</ref>

Spanish scientists have dismissed Freund's speculations, claiming that he sensationalised their work. The anthropologist Juan Villarías-Robles, who works with the [[Spanish National Research Council]], said, "Richard Freund was a newcomer to our project and appeared to be involved in his own very controversial issue concerning King Solomon's search for ivory and gold in [[Tartessos]], the well documented settlement in the Doñana area established in the first millennium BC", and described Freund's claims as "fanciful".<ref>{{cite news|last=Owen|first=Edward|title=Lost city of Atlantis 'buried in Spanish wetlands'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/8381219/Lost-city-of-Atlantis-buried-in-Spanish-wetlands.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/8381219/Lost-city-of-Atlantis-buried-in-Spanish-wetlands.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=18 March 2011|work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London|date=14 March 2011}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

A similar theory had previously been put forward by a German researcher, Rainer W. Kühne, that is based only on satellite imagery and places Atlantis in the [[Marismas de Hinojos]], north of the city of [[Cádiz]].<ref name=Antiquity>{{cite journal|last=Kühne|first=Rainer W.|title=A location for Atlantis?|journal=Antiquity|date=June 2004|volume= 78| issue = 300|url=https://scholar.google.de/citations?view_op=view_citation&user=W_OUOaEAAAAJ&citation_for_view=W_OUOaEAAAAJ:hqOjcs7Dif8C|access-date=19 April 2015|issn=0003-598X}}</ref> Before that, the historian [[Adolf Schulten]] had stated in the 1920s that Plato had used Tartessos as the basis for his Atlantis myth.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schulten|first=Adof|title=Tartessos und Atlantis|journal=Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen|year=1927|volume=73|pages=284–288|language=de}}</ref>

===Other locations===
Several writers, such as Flavio Barbiero as early as 1974,<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Polidoro |first=Massimo |author-link=Massimo Polidoro |date=November–December 2020 |title=Atlantis under Ice? Part 1 |url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/2020/11/atlantis-under-ice-part-1/ |magazine=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |location=Amherst, New York |publisher=[[Center for Inquiry]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723183607/https://skepticalinquirer.org/2020/11/atlantis-under-ice-part-1/ |archive-date=23 July 2021 |access-date=23 July 2020}}</ref> have speculated that [[Antarctica]] is the site of Atlantis.<ref>{{cite book
|title = The Atlantis Blueprint: Unlocking the Ancient Mysteries of a Long-Lost Civilization
|publisher = Delta; Reprint edition
|date= 28 May 2002
|isbn = 978-0-440-50898-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book
|title = Earth's shifting crust: A key to some basic problems of earth science
|url = https://archive.org/details/eathsshiftingcru033562mbp
|publisher = Pantheon Books
|year= 1958
|id = ASIN B0006AVEEU
}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=August 2021}} A number of claims involve the [[Caribbean Sea|Caribbean]], such as an alleged [[Cuban underwater formation|underwater formation]] off the [[Guanahacabibes Peninsula]] in [[Cuba]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Ballingrud|first=David|title=Underwater world: Man's doing or nature's?|url=http://www.sptimes.com/2002/11/17/Worldandnation/Underwater_world__Man.shtml|access-date=3 October 2012|newspaper=St. Petersburg Times|date=17 November 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110001838/http://www.sptimes.com/2002/11/17/Worldandnation/Underwater_world__Man.shtml|archive-date=10 November 2012}}</ref> The adjacent [[Bahamas]] or the folkloric [[Bermuda Triangle]] have been proposed as well. Areas in the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] and Indian Oceans have also been proposed, including [[Indonesia]] (i.e. [[Sundaland]]).<ref>[http://www.atlan.org/book/ Atlantis – The Lost Continent Finally Found] Santos, Arysio; Atlantis Publications, August 2005, {{ISBN|0-9769550-0-8}}.</ref>{{Page needed|date=August 2021}} The stories of a lost continent off the coast of [[India]], named "[[Kumari Kandam]]", have inspired some to draw parallels to Atlantis.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ramaswamy|first=Sumathi|title=The lost land of Lemuria: fabulous geographies, catastrophic histories|year=2005|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-24440-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=elYyJuYuAhwC&pg=PA205}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=August 2021}}