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'Circumstantial Evidence for Plato's Island Atlantis in the Souss-Massa plain in today's South- Morocco' by Michael Hübner

 

(i am here publishing Mr. Huber's paper about his research into identifying the precise location of where Plato said, in no uncertain terms, Atlantis was geographically. The methods that Mr. Huber employed are fascinating and his investgations were detailed to the point of being exhaustive. I agree to a large extent, however, with his conclusions. However, I would place the island chain off shore to the west of Morocco and the Gibraltor Strait....)

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ABSTRACT 

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In the 4th century BC the great Athenian philo- sopher Plato described in his Timaeus and Cri- tias dialogues a large state, which he called Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, the Island Atlantis. This island has not yet been localized with absolute certainty. In this paper a new approach to the analysis of Plato’s dialogues is described and the results of this analysis are presented. By means of a hierarchical constraint satisfaction procedure, a variety of geographically relevant in- dications from the antique texts are used to in- fer the most probable location of the island of Atlantis.

 

Surprisingly, this turns out to be the Souss-Massa plain in today’s Southwest Mo- rocco. This plain is surrounded by the High At- las, the Anti-Atlas, the Atlantic Ocean, and, on the south and the east, the Sahara. Because of its isolated position it could well be called an Island. The whole Maghreb is also called an island because of its isolated position (Djesir- at el Maghreb = Island of the West). 

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Global (large scale), regional (mid scale) and local (small scale) geographic and geologic at- tributes of the Souss-Massa plain can be matched to the descriptions of Plato. In addi- tion, cultural and linguistic correlations can be firmly established. In this context, an interest- ing analogy with the Heracles myth was found: The “Golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides” could be the fruits of the Argan tree (Argania spinosa) which is endemic to this particular region. 

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A major archaeological find of interest is a large annular geomorphological structure which was discovered in the northwestern part of the Souss-Massa plain. This structure fits the dimensions of Plato’s capital of Atlantis and is covered with hundreds of large and small prehistoric ruins of different types made partially out of rock coloured red, white and black (as described by Plato). The presence of substantial landscaping at the site and a vast number of findings of prehistoric artefacts sup- port the author’s localization hypothesis. An second archaeological find of interest is a unique geomorphological structure close to 

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Cape Ghir, which applies to Plato's roofed  over docks cut into red, white and black bed- rock. Several findings of prehistoric artefacts in this particularly area provide an indication for the cultural importance of this site in pre- historic times.

 

1. INTRODUCTION

 

The

1. The Atlantis Enigma

In Plato's account, Atlantis was a naval power lying “in front of the Pillars of Hercules” that conquered many parts of Western Europe and Africa 9,000 years (Crit. 108e) before the time of Solon, or approximately 11,600 years be- fore today. After a failed attempt to invade Athens, Atlantis sank into the ocean “in a single day and night of misfortune”.

Over the years, many people have searched for this island (currently more than 100 different localization hypotheses exist), but so far little archaeologically verifiable evidence has been found. Plato gave a highly detailed account of Atlantis with a multiplicity of indications. The Atlantis mystery can be described as a real world constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) as follows: 

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1. The problem: Where was Atlantis located?

2. The constraints: A multiplicity of indications which a geographical area must satisfy in or- der to qualify as the site where Atlantis could

have existed (e.g Plato described Atlantis as close to an ocean, near many high mountains, with elephants, etc...)

1. A large domain of possible solutions: In gen- eral each place on Earth, but particularly places of known Atlantis candidates like San-

torini, Troy, etc...

1. Only one valid solution: Either Atlantis never existed or Atlantis is located at a specific place on Earth. If the latter is the case, that should be archaeologically verifiable. Because of the enormous effort, which would be needed to test which place on Earth satisfies all given constraints, we try here to approach this CSP by the method of a hierarchical con- straint satisfaction (HCS)

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1. The Lybian Amazons and the Atlanteans were the so-called Sea Peoples.

The Sea Peoples is the term used for a confed- eracy of seafaring raiders of the second millen- nium BC, who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, caused political unrest, and attempted to enter or control Egyptian territory during the late 19th dynasty. Probably Diodor- us' account, particularly the 3 rd book (49-61), gives an explanation for the open question:

Who were the Sea Peoples and what was their intention in invading the eastern Mediter- ranean?

1. ὀρείχαλκος = Mica and Lime

"[...] and all the rest of the walls and pillars and floors [within the temple of Poseidon] they covered with orichalcum." (Crit. 116d)

In 2010 small pieces of a reddish lime plaster with an addition of mica were discovered close to a rampart (most probably the remains of a

 

city wall) within the annular structure. This material applies to Plato's description of Orichalcum: “sparkling like fire”.

 

1. CONCLUSIONS

Using hierarchical constraint satisfaction for the analysis of Plato's Atlantis account points us to a large annular geomorphological struc- ture at the wadi Souss, which is covered with many prehistoric ruins (Huebner M., Huebner

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S. 2010), a semi-annular structure at the wadi Massa, covered with many unusual prehistoric ruins and at least three other larger prehistoric settlements at the wadi Massa (Huebner M. 2012). These structures and settlements are situated within the Souss-Massa plain at the Atlantic Ocean in the Djesirat el Maghreb (Is- land of the West) in today’s southern Morocco. The Souss-Massa plain and its adjacent valleys are said to be called island by the native Amazigh people. The Amazigh again are said to have inhabited this area for at least 5,000 years. Moreover, nearly all global, regional and local criteria, derived from Plato’s ac- counts, apply to this plain.

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 From the above insights, the Atlantis enigma could well be based on facts, and can therefore be called a myth with a λόγος (logos) kernel (Papamarinopoulos, 2007). The core region of Atlantis Nesos is the Souss-Massa plain, which lies beyond the Pillars of Heracles, enclosed by the Atlantic Ocean (Atlantis thalassa = See of Atlantis), the High Atlas and the Anti Atlas. Since it is surrounded by Atlas (mountains and sea), it could well be called Island Atlantis. 

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Unfortunately all archaeological sites are ex- posed to massive destruction by local building companies (please refer to Huebner M. Huebner S. 2010 and Huebner M. 2012 for de- tails) and should be preserved from this de- struction by all adequate means. A scientific investigation of these sites could lead to a bet- ter understanding of the ancient interconnec- tions with other regions, especially with east- ern Mediterranean cultures (particularly Greek and Egyptian). These settlements should be included on the List of World Heritage in 

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