Google Ocean: Has Atlantis been found off Africa?

[cptmarginal]

I wonder what's different about the data collected for this region that makes it look that way? I'm not seriously suggesting that there is a sunken city there, but I am curious as to why that particular mapped area looks different than surrounding areas I've randomly looked at. The grid is still there on a copyright 2011 image, just search for 31 15'15.53N 24 15'30.53W on Google Maps and switch to the satellite data.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&biw=1 ... a=N&tab=wl

I'd guess that it's probably because the sonar data collection is not done very frequently

(man, Google Earth + Street View is one of the coolest things ever)

[pepsified thinker]

I realize this has actually got a picture--quasi objective evidence?--to support it, but there are regular stories about locating Atlantis.

What I can recall off the top of my head:

Santorini--the volcanic explosion that destroyed the island and ruined/ended Minoan civilization = Atlantis

Some place off Cuba--big regularly shaped (squared, giant stone blocks) were discovered. Those who found them aren't saying exactly where 'til they have all their ducks in a row, but they promise that it's for real.

The Black Sea--a cataclysmic flood into the sea when the Bosporus opened (it used to be a closed barrier separating the Black Sea from the larger Aegean/Mediterranean basin) destroyed communities that were along the edge of the lower, original shoreline.

The Persian Gulf--used to be a marshy, grassy area of higher population and sophisticated civilization that was the mother to the Sumerians, etc.

I feel like I might be forgetting some, but you get the picture.

I wouldn't be surprised if the steady stream of these is a cover-up for something, but I'm guessing it's more the result of wishful thinking and amateur treasure hunting/armchair archeaologists, with a bit of scuba gear and a copy of Plato's description of the fabled lost land.

In any case, it seems unknowable, at this point, given the mish-mash of stories and claims and the lack of any hard evidence.

[Avalon]

Always good to pay attention to scale -- when you are told something is the size of Wales, figure out how big that would make it. Wales is 8023 sq. miles, call it 8100 so you can have the square be 90 miles on a side.

That's going to make your "roads" about a mile wide, at a rough guess.

[seemslikeadream]

another ufo ocean floor story

Could ‘UFO’ on the ocean floor really be the lost kingdom of Kvenland?
Chris Cunnyngham on August 11, 2011, 7:46 AM

The release last week of a sonar scan showing an anomalous formation on the bottom of the Gulf of Bothnia between Sweden and Finland set off a storm of wild speculation as to what exactly the image means. Most of this speculation centered on the idea that this object (if it is an object or objects and not just a natural formation on the ocean floor) could be a crashed UFO. It really does kind of look like the Millennium Falcon

The image was released by Swedish researcher Peter Lindberg and Team Ocean Explorer. They were scanning the seabed hoping to find wrecks they could salvage for vintage and expensive booze, such as rare champagne and brandy, which I’m pretty sure is the best job ever. Lindberg himself did not speculate that the mysterious image could be a flying saucer but he did mention that the structure could be a “new Stonehenge.”



But amid all the guesswork another possibility has gone unmentioned. Could the image be evidence of a sunken settlement – a city lost to rising waters over a thousand years ago? Perhaps even a kingdom?



Conveniently, there is just such a lost kingdom – and its legendary location is not far from where the Ocean Explorer team took their scan of the odd ‘structure.’



As lost places go, Kvenland is pretty low on the totem pole. Most people have never heard of it. In a sense, it is even more lost than the lost continent of Atlantis. People write books and make television shows about Atlantis. Good luck getting a t-shirt with Kvenland on it.



The origins of the Kvenland legend are murky. The first recorded mention that we know of came around 890 CE when the Norwegian traveler Ohthere visited England and his stories were recorded on order of King Alfred of Wessex. Ohthere was a Viking adventurer (second best job ever) from the far north ("north-most of all the Northmen") and King Alfred added his account to a contemporary history and it was passed down to us. That’s why they call him Alfred the Great and not Alfred the Meh. He was a learned and intelligent man. He also had Vikings constantly invading his kingdom so knowledge of their culture and lands was probably a bonus.



Ohthere’s account of Kvenland is not exact but he fairly clearly places it somewhere along the Gulf of Bothnia – right where the Swedes took their scan. Ohthere’s account is considered contemporary, i.e., that Kvenland existed when he made his statement, but he makes no indication that he has actually been there and a map of his travels as interpreted from his statements shows no visit to the Gulf. Kvenland may have been already lost when he told Alfred about it.



A few Norse sagas also mention Kvenland but they were written hundreds of years later and may be complete mythology. Ergil’s Saga, written around 1220 to 1240 CE, even mentions a King, Faravid, but this is the only mention that comes down to us and the events recorded in the saga supposedly took place in the 9th century. Faravid may not have really existed.



And Kvenland might not have either. But I think I know where to start looking.

[Stephen Morgan]

Why would sea levels have risen in that Gulf in the last thousand years? Mean sea levels haven't risen and, if anything, the local land is probably higher due to the continuing ascent of land formerly depressed by the glaciers in the ice age.