A team of historians believes that they might have finally found the lost city of Atlantis in a national park in Southern Spain.
The experts used satellite imagery to examine the area within the Doñana National Park that they think could hold the key to solving the mystery of Atlantis. They believe that they have identified the harbour walls of the settlement, as well as several other structures.
The site has been studied by archaeologists before now and those who've seen it largely think that it was built by Greeks or Romans. However, the private investigative team from Merlin Burrows think that it was in fact created by an ancient people known as the Atlanteans.
Atlantis was discussed in the writings of the Greek philosopher Plato, who wrote of a technologically advanced (for the era) people who lived on the sea around 9,000 years before Plato's own time.
The Atlanteans supposedly controlled a huge empire at sea, of which the centre-piece was the city of Atlantis. He described a city with a huge harbour, circular islands upon which the people lived, and a temple to the Greek god Poseidon.
Though science has never actually proven the existence of them, it has been suggested that a huge natural disaster consigned them to the realms of myth and legend. It has also been thought that Plato may have made the people up to frame his philosophical ideas. This isn't the first time there have been claims to have found the lost city.
Either way, the folks from Merlin Burrows have found something out there. Whether it's a lost sunken city or not is anybody's guess, but they certainly think it is.
It sits within the Doñana National Park, in Andalucía near the city of Cadiz. Scientists also think that the area was once a large inland sea. There are also other nearby settlements that share characteristics, giving rise to the idea that they are all linked.
Merlin Burrows' head of research, Maritime historian Tim Akers, said that the people of 'Atlantis' were very advanced, using ancient types of metalwork and cement making that have never been observed before.
He said: "Plato describes in detail a patina on the buildings and structures of the cities and temples making up this complex.
"We have filmed clear evidence and have collected samples which have been scientifically tested in a lab in Modena, Italy, which is used to test ancient Roman finds.
"The results of the tests prove the age of the finds are older than Roman or Greek, and that they were more advanced."
He added: "The site is spread over 100 miles from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, as to age as yet we have been unable to give a fixed date for the beginning, but its end was at the last Ice Age around 10,000 years ago.
"At the centre of the line of coastal cities was one gigantic inland sea 65 miles long, filled with multiple islands, some natural, others man-made.
"The main complex consists of two distinct individual multi-Island platforms.
"And one is offset from the other so that anyone on those islands can see every island in the complex.
"It is unique, nowhere in our world is there anything resembling this, and the structures match exactly Plato's dimensions with no deviation. It is absolutely spot on.
"Investigations in Doñana lead to the conclusion that there have been two natural disasters (tsunamis) that caused the islands and dry areas to sink, one of which happened around 1500 BC and the other 200AD. There is also evidence of a tsunami event in the Bible."
Hmm...OK then.
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