Has the Mystery of Atlantis Been Solved?

Did a Giant Wave destroy the lost city of Atlantis? That is was the latest theorists are starting to believe. Archaeologists, scientists and hobbyists have been trying to uncover the mystery of the lost city of Atlantis for hundreds of years. Some people believe the extremely modern ancient civilisation is just a myth, many believe it did exist and want to discover why it suddenly disappeared.

The latest investigation of the Atlantis mystery has turned its focus to the Greek island of Create. Create is located in the Eastern Mediterranean. Researchers have found evidence on the island of Crete that suggest the earliest civilisation in Europe was wiped out in a single incident; that of a huge tsunami.

Atlantis was a highly civilised society that was years ahead of other European civilisations of the time. 3,500 years ago, around 1500BC, the thriving society suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth. Many believe Atlantis to be buried beneath the sea. The myth of Atlantis first appeared 2000 years ago when the legendary philosopher, Plato talked about it. Many think that Plato was only making up the story to show people his political theories. However it is thought that Plato's stories were influenced by actual historical events.

Atlantis was the home of the Minoan people. The story about their society says that when other European societies were just figuring out how to build a hut the Minoans were constructing palaces, surfacing their streets and even installing a sewer system.

Some of the world's best-known myths are credited to the Minoan people. Most people will be familiar with Minotaurs and Labyrinths. In fact today many still enjoy modern day Labyrinths created in luxury gardens or cornfields.

Researchers who have been to Crete recently found fascinating new details that point to a giant tsunami hitting the island at the same time the city of Atlantis vanished. One researcher from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, is Dutch geologist, Professor Hendrik Bruins. Bruins has said, "The geo-archaeological deposits contain a number of distinct tsunami signatures. Minoan building material, pottery and cups along with food residue such as isolated animal bones were mixed up with rounded beach pebbles and seashells and microscopic marine fauna. The latter can only have been scooped up from the sea-bed by one mechanism - powerful tsunami, dumping all these materials together in a destructive swoop."

The material was found around seven metres above sea level. This is much father than the sea would ever reach even during a big storm.

The Minoan society depended on the sea for much of its survival. They were often at sea carrying out their trading and naval activities. Because of this Minoan towns were almost always located right along the coast. Though these locations were convenient for trading activity the cities were also at risk if a catastrophic event, such as, a tsunami struck.

The largest Minoan village is believed to be located on Crete's eastern side. The village is called Palaikastro and it has been undergoing extensive exactions for 25 years by Sandy MacGillivray, an archaeologist from Canada. MacGillivray said, "All of a sudden a lot of the deposits began making sense to us. Even though the town of Palaikastro is a port it stretched hundreds of metres into the hinterland and is, in places, at least 15 metres above sea level. This was a big wave."

The cause of the civilisation-destroying wave is thought to be a volcano on the Greek island of Santorini. This volcano is thought to have erupted at the same time the tsunami struck Crete, only 70 kilometres away. The eruption on Santorini was enormous, so big that it would be have heard are far as 3,000 miles away. When the volcano erupted it blasted apart sending its cone into the sea and thus causing the tsunami.

Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6568053.stm
http://www.physorg.com/news5482.html