We could be entering silly season ... a press release:

In 2004 a geographer demonstrated the similarity between Ireland and Plato's Atlantis. He suggested that the tale of the island that sank came to Ireland from the North Sea. New geological data may confirm the hypothesis.

By comparing Plato's description with 3-dimensional seismic data from oil exploration, and archaeological analyses of paleoenvironments, a plausible location has been found in the Silver Pit meteorite impact crater. If so, it is not just under the sea, but under the bottom of the sea. This would explain why it has not been found yet: 3D seismic studies is something quite new.

The original hypothesis was presented by Dr. Ulf Erlingsson in the book "Atlantis from a Geographer's Perspective: Mapping the Fairy Land." The foreword was written by W. Karlén, professor emeritus in Geography and editor of a scientific journal.

In the book he concluded that "beyond reasonable doubt, Plato based the geographic description of Atlantis on Ireland." However, he also pointed out that the story of the island that sank must have come from elsewhere, and suggested Dogger Bank in the North Sea as a possible source.

Plato wrote that the city of Atlantis was located inside three concentric lakes created by the god Poseidon. Seismic data indicate that such a location may exist on the correct side of Dogger Bank. Furthermore, it is at the correct depth for having sunk at the time Plato claimed--at the very end of the ice age.

Apart from studying a possible historic origin for the Atlantis tale, Erlingsson has recently published an article on the risk for a jökulhlaup from East Antarctica, a prediction that was confirmed by an article in Nature only weeks later. He has also got an article in preparation that proposes a novel explanation for why and how the ice age ended. It is his geographic research into dramatic natural events that has led him to suspect that the tale of Atlantis may have a background in reality.

The new details of the Atlantis hypothesis are presented in a video, which is available for free at http://atlantisinireland.com/movies.html


I can read a map ... that doesn't make me a geographer. Why is it always folks who aren't Classicists who are given credibility (it seems) by the media in regards to what Plato wrote?