Atlantis Lost; Atlantis Found? (III)

So, in the last two posts, I’ve gone into detail about the lineage of modern Atlantean mythology. So, how does this all tie into the recent report that Dr Rainer Kuehne of the University of Wuppertal believes he has found an archaeological site in southern Spain (courtesy of satellite imagery) that resembles Plato’s description of Atlantis. More importantly, however, is how this report (and the meme-like widespread publication of the report) has deeper, more problematic issues. First off, its important to realize that this report is nothing if it isn’t extremely preliminary. There has been no excavation whatsoever. The suppositions about the site’s Atlantean identity are based purely on extremely grainy satellite imagery, and comparison’s to Plato’s description in the Timaeus and Critias dialogs.

Well, the problem is that it is close to impossible for the public to look at the report objectively. They’ve been so bombarded with outlandish additions to the original myth, (a la Cayce or Donnely) that many (especially the faithful acolytes of Edgar Cayce) might view the report as vindication for their daft pseudo-theories. As a result, any attempt to talk about Atlantis in a serious scholarly manner automatically gets linked with aliens, telekinesis, reincarnation, 8th century flying machines, and extreme diffusion. All of which, when bundled up together, result in one central idea – ancient Egyptians, Mayans, Mesopotamians, and pretty much any other early complex society were too damn stupid to have accomplished the incredible things that archaeologists know they accomplished. The Giza Pyramids…nope, those were built by people from Atlantis. The Sphinx? Nope, Atlanteans there also. Copan? Nope, the Atlanteans did that one also. Oh yeah, and here is the other thing…most contemporary adherents to pseudo-theories about Atlantis would probably tell you that Atlanteans were nice white folks. So, couple that with the idea that the vast majority of early complex societies diffused from Atlantis, and you’ve got one big bowl of bigot stew.. And you wonder why scholars get pissed when someone mentions Atlantis.