By Joe Gerrard • Published: 19 Nov 2018 • 14:30
RESEARCHERS working in Southern Spain have claimed ancient ruins lying off the country’s coast could be the last remaining remnants of the lost city of Atlantis. Flooded circles as well as stone rubble lying in a beach in Cadiz Province, Andalucia, may once have been part of the settlement, experts said. The research firm Merlin Burrows has studied satellite images of both areas, analysing them alongside ancient sources to investigate the Atlantis link. The results form part of the upcoming documentary Atlantica. Tim Akers, a maritime historian with Merlin Burrows, said researchers had found traces of ancient cement never before detected in such ruins. These and other tests pointed to the conclusion that the city, long thought to be mythical, may have in fact existed off Spain, Akers added. “The results of the tests prove the age of the finds are older than Roman and Greek and that they were more advanced,” the historian said. Michael Donnellan, a documentary filmmaker and the producer of Atlantica, said filming the find was “life changing”. “The discoveries are spellbinding and inspiring. I grew up learning about the legend of Atlantis and I am thrilled I could record its discovery. “It is a shining example of how complex and advanced early civilisations were,” Donnellan said. Some of the earliest mentions of Atlantis come from the writing of the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato according 2,600 years ago. He said the city existed somewhere near the Pillars of Hercules, the modern-day Strait of Gibraltar, thousands of years before his own time. His and other accounts state the city was lost due to a flood or catastrophic event leaving it submerged underwater, with most having dismissed the story as myth. Central to the latest claims are the discovery of the ruins of what researchers claimed were the legendary harbour walls of the city. The Merlin Burrows team said its dimensions matched those described by Plato. Other theories state the ruins were built by the ancient Tartessian culture, a civilisation that existed in the southwest of the Iberian peninsula before the arrival of foreign settlers. Other candidates for the location of Atlantis include ancient sites in modern-day Crete and Cyprus. Atlantica is due to be broadcast as part of the upcoming Legendary Discoveries series.
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