ries there were many who, in the ancient world, gave credit to what Plato said. In this way, Strabo, Posidonius, Pliny the Elder and Plutarch took Plato’s narration as the truth, contributing with their own opinions and writings in enlarging the legend…So, will the remains of the old civilization of Atlantis be so near to us? Have those that are really searching for it hit it this time? The investigations by Freund’s team have been harshly criticized by different sectors of the scientific community. Historians and archaeologists are sceptical and still consider the accounts of Plato to be a legend that emerged from the imagination of the Greek teacher and were used by him as an excuse or example to explain his ideal model for society. They maintain that the work carried out in Doñana lacks credibility from the historical-literary, geological, paleogeographic and archaeological points of view.
CHAIN OF TOWERS AND GATES meant that nothing escaped the eyes of those in charge of monitoring the entire perimeter. The unfinished dialogue of Critias, probably envisaged as a continuation of Timaeus, expands on the previous data, all of which was provided by Solon, about the war that occurred 8,000 years before between Athens and Atlantis. The text centres on this continuation of the history, geography and government of Atlantis, interrupted at the precise moment at which the gods, indignant about the immoral behaviour of the inhabitants of the empire of Atlantis, decide to castigate them in an atrocious way; the sinking of the main island, bringing about its total disappearance from the face of the earth. For the great majority of the thinkers of the ancient world both texts were true to life narrations, remnants and notes of a story based on real events. Manuel Pimentel, a former politician who was Minister of Labour, now a businessman and successful writer, thinks that if there really had been an Atlantis, “we would be talking of an advanced civilization in comparison with its contemporaries, which would signify that there were civilizations using metals before they were believed to have done so”. Down through the following centu-
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SHOW OR SCIENCE? Luis Alfonso Gámez believes that “the history of the National Geographic Channel is more spectacle than science. It’s very possible that in the area of the salt marshes of Doñana there are ruins, but that does not mean to say that they are
notes about absolutely everything. There is nothing, not even a reference to Atlantis, and that is because it existed only in Plato’s head”. In spite of all this, there are thousands of enthusiasts who are convinced that sooner or later man will come across the lost continent. Pimentel says that “any rigorous archaeological investigation looks good to me, and if they apply science to carr y it out, then better still. What happens in Spain is that we have a feeling of shame. To think that Atlantis could be here makes us ashamed and it seems to us that it is not serious enough for science to take notice of it. I, nevertheless, believe that it’s good to investigate all things with scientific methodology. There are many reasons for thinking that the most realistic possibility of the many that have been considered, and the one most adapted to the texts of Plato, is in the south of Andalucia. That is not only because it’s a little beyond the Pillars of Hercules, but also for the example of the abundance of metal, of orichalcum, which could be the copper or the bronze that are so common in the Sierra Morena mountains. Could Atlantis be in
THE INVESTIGATIONS BY FREUND’S TEAM HAVE BEEN HARSHLY CRITICIZED BY DIFFERENT SCIENTIFIC SECTORS. the ruins of Atlantis. The story of Plato is possibly a mix of various influences that he had at hand and that he went on using to create a moral tale about Athens and how good the Athenians were. In Plato’s story he refers to the Egyptian priests, to Solon, but there is no other source, not even among the Egyptians who made
Doñana?. The magic of archaeology can make all things possible”. Who knows whether this search will be the successful one, and whether from here on we can say at last that it was not just a myth in Plato’s head, and that we now know where Atlantis was. Here, in the south of Spain.