In Search of Atlantis -- Getting Closer

Around 355 BC Plato described an ancient, exoticTherefore, there is a strong probability that the
island kingdom catastrophically buried beneath the seaancient city of Atlantis is an ancient submerged city
when its once-virtuous people angered the gods withof the Sumerians.If one traces the origin of the story
their indulgence in sin and corruption. The city ofof Atlantis to Sumerians one may enquire as to who
Atlantis was a marvel of architecture and engineering.the Sumerians were and where they came from?
The city was composed of a series of concentricThey were not local people because they spoke a
walls and canals about 9000 years before the time oflanguage foreign to the parts. For a long time it was
Plato. When the people of Atlantis became corruptthought that their language was an isolated one,
and greedy, the gods decided to destroy them. Aunrelated to other languages. However, the picture
violent earthquake shook the land, giant waves rolledhas now changed as a result of further studies. The
over the shores, and the island sank into the sea,study of their language along with anthropological
never to be seen again. In Plato's book, Timaeus, aexamination of Sumerian skeletons helps to trace out
character named Kritias describes that an account oftheir origins.It has been found that the Sumerian
Atlantis has been in his family for generations.language is an Austric language spoken by a group of
According to the character, an Egyptian priest toldancient Australoid people found in India, South East
the story to his ancestor, Solon.The first thing toAsia and Australia (The Austric Origin of the Sumerian
realize is that it would be surprising if the descriptionLanguage, Language Form, vol. 22, no.1-2, Jan.-Dec.
of Atlantis by Plato is precise and accurate, not1996.). An examination of ancient Sumerian skulls has
because Plato was not accurate, but because thefurther confirmed that the ancient Sumerians indeed
story had been passed down through thousands ofbelonged to the Australoid race. An evolved branch
years, initially verbally and not through writing. Thisof the same tribe appears to have established the
description reached Plato through Egyptian Priests. ItIndus civilization as well as the Sumerian one after
would be difficult to pin down the exact date of thethe submergence of their coastal cities. In
submergence of Atlantis for the same reason.North-western India they would have encountered
However there is little doubt that any truth in theNeolithic people of Indo-European origin with which
story would be prior to 3300 BC. There is no instancemanpower they established the Indus cities. An
of writing of full descriptions prior to 3300 BC. Someanalysis of skeletal remains from Indus valley
evidence of writing brief description with pictorialconfirms this mixture. The Sumerian language
symbols of consignments is all that exists in the formpersisted side by side with local languages as with the
of writing from a period before 3300 BC. The names,official language of the rulers being Sumerian. In the
sizes and time spans are possibly inventions orIndus valley, Sumerian would have persisted along
modifications as the story was handed down thewith local Aryan languages. So far scholars have been
centuries.The essence of the story, that of antrying to decipher the Indus script based on a
ancient well-planned and prosperous city thatcomparison with Dravidian and Aryan languages, and
preceded known civilizations on earth may howeverfailed. A more fruitful attempt may be made if they
be true. In fact archeologists and historians haveused Austric for this purpose. Just as in Mesopotamia,
postulated the existence of such a civilization. Plannedancient Sumerian was eventually replaced by the
cities and other technologies suddenly began to springlanguage of the majority (Akkadians) in the Indus
up in the Indus valley, Mesopotamia and Egypt in thevalley it would have been replaced eventually by an
period 3500-3000 BC as if they had dropped fromIndo-Aryan language.If we assume for the moment
the sky. Since design and construction of these citiesthat the Sumerians originated on the west coast of
involved engineering skills that take time to develop itIndia and that their ancient capital city was
has been suspected that they came from an alreadysubmerged then we have to enquire if any such
developed civilization that has not yet beenevidence has been found. The recent discovery
discovered. Various suggestions have been made asmade in the Gulf of Cambay, made some sit up and
to where Atlantis might be located ranging from thewatch with interest. It clearly established the
Antarctica to South America and even otherexistence of an ancient civilization that was
planets.A relevant line of enquiry is to find where thesubmerged in the sea. The methodologies adopted to
Egyptian priests got the story of Atlantis. The moststudy this find, were novel and different, wherein
probable direction is Sumer or Ancient Mesopotamia.advanced marine technologies and the most modern
There is also the possibility that the first dynasticscientific applications of various disciplines were put to
priests of Egypt were in fact Sumerian-Akkadians.use. Most of the structures that were discovered in
The first dynastic Pharaoh of Egypt - Menes unitedthe Gulf of Cambay had many similarities to the
upper and lower Egypt, and constructed a newCitadel, Great Bath, grid pattern habitation, granary,
capital at Memphis by diverting a part of the Nile. Theetc. of the Harappan civilization. But many of the
engineering skills required for all this appears to beartifacts and typology were different and distinctive
from Mesopotamia as well. It takes considerable timeand with the presence of many micro tools appeared
and apprenticeship to develop the requiredto be much older than the Harappan. The northern
engineering skills even if one is very brilliant. There ismetropolis has well made pottery pieces, wattle daub
no evidence of these skills existing in Egypt prior toetc. from about 7506 BP onwards. It indicates
Menes (or Manas, the Egyptians did not write vowelswell-organized city living. Hence it is possible that this
and these have to be guessed). Menes as well as hismetropolis came up after 8450 BP but much before
priests and engineers were probably all7506 BP. After the submergence of the southern
Mesopotamians although of the work force was local.metropolis, the ancients appear to have shifted and
In any case, even if it is contested that Menes andfounded the northern metropolis. This wonderful twin
his engineers were not from Mesopotamia, it cannotprehistoric metropolis of Cambay lasted from about
be contested that ancient Egypt had several links13000 BP to about 3000 BP making it the most
with ancient Mesopotamia that went beyond justancient and largest city civilization not only in Asia but
trade.Further, the likelihood of the Atlantis storiesalso in the entire world. Scientists described, in a
being of Sumer origin is strengthened by the factmanner similar to Plato, the submergence of the city
that the submergence of ancient cities was a strongdue to violent earthquakes and ensuing floods. The
part of the Sumerian mythology. It dominates theirexistence of a submerged circular harbor as
historical tradition. The destruction of the ancient citydescribed by Plato has also been found in a
as a result of sin was also a part of their beliefs.neighboring site.