The Real Atlantis-In the Eye of the Sahara (The Weird Ancient History Series)

Product Information

Abdeina, E. H., Bazin, S., Chazot, G., Bertrand, H., Le Gall, B., Youbi, N., Sabar, M. S., Bensalah, M. K., & Boumehdi, M. A. (2021). Geophysical modelling of the deep structure of the Richat Magmatic Intrusion (northern Mauritania): Insights into its kinematics of emplacement. Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 14(22). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-08734-4 Plato said, “There were a great number of elephants on the island.” There have been many skeletons of elephants found in the area and Mauritania does have an elephant population. Also, as seen in the photo above, there are cave paintings of elephants in nearby caves. This video shows what Richat structure is and its formation, which will give you a hint on understanding it more, including how it formed. 1. Earlier symmetric dome erosion theory Shortly after 100 Ma, rhyolitic magma rises through conical fractures causing a violent phreatic volcanic explosion due to the interaction of magma with caldera lake water. This formed the two Southwest and Northwest two eruptive centers or maars in the inner part, and the process reopened the ring fractures that caused a piston-like collapse of the inner part. Everybody knows the name Atlantis — the story of a civilization lost to time — sunken beneath the waves. Personally, the first thought that comes to mind when thinking of Atlantis would be an island somewhere in the Atlantic, probably now home to a couple of fish. This concept of Atlantis seems so far-fetched that it’s easy to write off as just a story. However, what if I told you our government already knows the whereabouts of Atlantis? What if it’s not as lost as we think? Well, recent scientific discoveries continue to deepen our understanding of geographic history which, in turn, helps construct an argument for the reality of Atlantis.

Robertson, E. (2014, July 7). Eye of the Sahara. EGU Blogs. https://blogs.egu.eu/network/bar/tag/eye-of-the-sahara/ Poupeau, G.; Fabre, J.; Labrin, E.; Azdimoussa, A.; Netto, A. M.; Monod, T. (1996). "Nouvelles datations par traces de fission de la structure circulaire des Richat (Mauritanie)". Mémoires du Service Géologique de l'Algérie. 8: 231–36. Netto, A.M.; Fabre, J.; Poupeau, G.; Champemmois, M. (1992). "Fission Trace Dates of the Richats Circular Structure". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences de Paris. 314: 1179–86. One of these features is Mount Atlas, and one of these peoples is the tribe of the Atlantes (= the people of Mount Atlas). But Herodotos never mentions any place called Atlantis. Herodotos’ map in fact wasn’t drawn by Herodotos. There have been several contenders for the possible location of Atlantis, including Malta, but all fail in some way to fulfill all the criteria Plato had laid out in its description. The Richat Structure, also known as the Eye of Africa, is surprisingly fitting.The Richat structure was first described as a Richât crater or buttonhole in the 1930s-1940s, with Richard-Molard (1948) concluding its formation was due to a laccolithic uplift. The discovery of Aouelloul, Temimichat-Ghallaman, and Tenoumer impact craters during the 1952 geological expedition in Mauritania led to the conclusion that the Richat structure formed from a meteor impact. Then there were the Nazis. Many swore by the idea that a white Nordic superior race – people of “the purest blood” – had come from Atlantis. As a result, Himmler set up an SS unit, the Ahnenerbe – or Bureau of Ancestral Heritage – in 1935 to find out where people from Atlantis had ended up after the deluge had destroyed their homeland. Well, the Richat Structure is indeed the location of exceptional accumulations of Acheulean artifacts – stone tools characterized by distinctive oval and pear-shaped “hand-axes” associated with Homo erectus, as well as derived species such as Homo heidelbergensis. But Acheulean technologies first developed about 1.76 million years ago, and although their disappearance is not well defined, they could have lasted until about 130,000 years ago (much earlier than the proposed time of Atlantis’ existence about 12,000 years ago).

Needless to say, many speculators believe that the Richat Structure is not merely a geological wonder, unique in the whole world, but the location of the legendary 11,000-year-old city of Atlantis. Here are just a few of the correlations between Atlantis, as described by Plato, and the Richat Structure 1. King Atlas the island of Atlantis, which was an island larger than Libya and Asia once upon a time…the whole region rose sheer out of the sea to a great height."

Could the Richat Structure be Atlantis?

Because of its enormous size, the Eye of the Sahara is best appreciated from great distances-preferably from space-so for the time being; satellite images will have to suffice. The entire terrain surrounding the Eye was raised by volcanic activity from deep below the surface of the Earth millions of years ago. These areas weren't like the deserts of today. Instead, they probably had much flowing water and were much cooler. If you’re still on the fence about the Eye of the Sahara being the location of the city of Atlantis, consider that the City of Troy was thought to be a myth for thousands of years, until it was found, exactly where Homer said it would be.

The map above is from the Greek historian Herodotus, who’s credited for having made the most accurate mapping of the known inhabited world as of 450 BC. If you look at the bottom left, he has an area called “Atlantes.” This map is from 450 BC, but Atlantis disappeared in 9,600 BC, so how did he know where it was? One may argue that the location of Atlantis had been written down before and he simply wrote where it used to be, but it’s a bit of a flimsy explanation.

You use the term “geo-mythology.” Are there any reliable maps that show Atlantis?

a b Richard-Molard, J. (1952). "The Pseudo-boutonniers of Richat". Gouvernement Général de l'Afrique Occidentale Française Bulletin de la Direction des Mines. 15 (2): 391–401.