Atlantis From a Geographer’s Perspective: Mapping the Fairy Land
This short books tackles the whereabouts of the mythical lost continent of Atlantis from another angle - that of a geographer. Ulf Erlingsson - a noted Swedish Geographer - adds his weight to the equation and comes up with some interesting geographical insights. Whilst the candidates for the location of Atlantis are manifold: the Greek island of Santorini, the Azores in the Atlantic off Portugal, the Bahamas and Bermuda, Cuba and Hispaniola, the Alto Plano of the Andes and the Antartica, Erlingsson examines Plato’s descriptions in the dialogues Timaeus and Critias for any geographical clues and comes up with yet another candidate.
In the aforesaid dialogues, Plato described Atlantis as 3,000 stadia long by 2,000 stadia wide and that the central plain was surrounded by coastal mountain ranges.
Erlingsson points out that a certain island fits this description accurately - Ireland! He states that Ireland is one of only six islands on earth with such dimensions. In addition, of the 50 largest islands, only Ireland has a central plain and coastal mountains. He proceeds to demonstrate logically that the megalithic sites of Newgrange, Knowth and Tara correspond with the palaces of Plato’s Atlantis, with Newgrange being Poisedon’s Temple.
Erlingsson takes the known catastrophe of the sinking of the island, Dogger Bank, off Britain in the North Sea in c.6100 BC as a reference point. This was the result of: a tsunami originating off the Norwegian coast and a major rise in global sea levels triggered off by the sudden release of the huge Lake Agassiz in North America. He posits that the folk memory of this calamity was retained over the Atlantis empire; this forming the basis for the ‘sinking of Atlantis myth’ and that Ireland was a major part of this empire.
He clarifies this, by outlining with detailed photographs, that the area of Europe in which megaliths span was the Atlantis empire (Co Meath in Ireland possesses the most impressive of such sites).
Therefore, concluding that the megaliths of Western Europe were created by the Atlantis kingdom.
There are some interesting references to mitochondrial DNA - genes passed from mother to son; rather than the normal y-chromosome from father to son.
Herein he cites some interesting results of his research in this area from a forthcoming book, of similarities between different groups and ethnicities and feels this will prove that the Atlantis Empire was the creator of the megalithic culture.
What is compelling in Erlingsson’s hypothesis is, that he uses the method that it must be 95% proofpositive. If it doesn’t reach that level, it is erroneous and false. He starts off to disprove a hypothesis and works from there accordingly. He duly achieved the 95% quotient when comparing Ireland’s physical layout, features and dimensions with Plato’s descriptions and found the two correlated to 95%. Therefore, passing the test and proving his hypothesis. It’s this modus operandi which is quite striking.
In conclusion, whilst this book has been debunked by many academics in Ireland and elsewhere, it unearths enough verifiable hypotheses and theories when checked and rechecked to determine that Ireland is, at least, as much a candidate for the location of Atlantis as any of the other numerous ones. Erlingsson believes that the critics are obliged to disprove his hypothesis. Atlantis from a Geographer’s Perspective is a very welcome addition to the whole Atlantis debate.