ATLANTIS: The Lost City That Keeps Getting Found

Another archaeologist claims to have discovered Atlantis off the Spanish coast — but this isn’t the first time someone’s made that promise

An underwater explorer believes he’s located the legendary lost civilization just two miles from Spain’s coast, complete with massive walls and ancient temples. His announcement joins a long list of previous Atlantis “discoveries” that have failed to convince the scientific community.

Ancient mysteries have a way of resurfacing when we least expect them. Every few years, someone steps forward with dramatic claims about finding humanity’s most famous lost city, armed with sonar scans, underwater footage, and unwavering confidence. The latest chapter in this ongoing saga comes from archaeologist Michael Donnellan, who spent eight years combing the seafloor off Spain’s coast before making his announcement at a North Carolina conference dedicated to alternative history.

The Spanish Coast Discovery

Donnellan’s investigation focused on the waters near Cádiz, Spain—a location that’s actually seen its share of Atlantis hunters before. Using sonar and LiDAR technology, he mapped what he describes as massive concentric circular walls rising more than 20 feet from the ocean floor, arranged in an organized pattern that stretches across the seabed about 65 feet below the surface.

The structures tell a story of apparent destruction. The outermost wall shows heavy damage, as if something powerful had slammed into it from the sea. The inner walls appear split and displaced, scattered across the seafloor alongside what Donnellan identifies as intricately carved canals and rectangular stone formations.

During more than 20 dives, his team documented rectangular stones roughly half the size of a small car, cut with sharp angles and flat surfaces. Between the supposed walls, they found channels and scattered debris that Donnellan believes were flung from their original positions during some catastrophic event.

At the center of it all sits a rectangular formation that Donnellan claims matches Plato’s description of Poseidon’s temple. The dimensions, he argues, align perfectly with the ancient philosopher’s account—3,000 by 2,000 stadia, or roughly 341 by 227 miles.

Donnellan admits historians don’t know what caused the destruction he believes he’s witnessing, but he points to the Younger Dryas period, a controversial timeframe that supposedly ended around 11,600 years ago. Some fringe researchers have linked this period to a cataclysmic event that might have wiped out an advanced civilization.

The archaeologist acknowledges that calling his discovery “Atlantis” makes people skeptical. Instead, he refers to it as “the great ancient Atlantic culture,” hoping the less loaded terminology will make his claims more palatable. He’s produced a documentary about his findings, though the scientific community has yet to weigh in on his evidence.

A History of False Starts

Donnellan’s announcement represents just the latest in a long line of Atlantis claims that stretches back more than a century. The modern obsession with finding Plato’s lost city began in earnest with Ignatius Donnelly—no relation to Michael—who wrote “Atlantis: The Antediluvian World” in 1882. As a U.S. Congressman and fringe scientist, Ignatius Donnelly presented 13 theories supporting Atlantis as the origin point for ancient civilizations worldwide.

His book planted the idea that following clues in Plato’s texts could lead to the actual discovery of the lost city. Since then, researchers have proposed dozens of locations for Atlantis, from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean to Antarctica.

In 2001, French geologist Jacques Collina-Girard suggested that a submerged landmass called Spartel, located off northwest Africa, could be Atlantis. His theory gained traction when he proposed that the island gradually sank as sea levels rose during the ice age. By 12,000 years ago, Spartel had supposedly shrunk to less than 500 meters in width.

Four years later, marine ecologist Marc-André Gutscher from the University of Brest added weight to the Spartel hypothesis by discovering evidence of a powerful earthquake in the region around the estimated time of Atlantis’s destruction. He also found signs of recurring earthquakes and tsunamis every 2,000 years that could have eroded the remaining parts of the island.

Spanish researchers have made their own claims about the Cádiz region. In 2024, a team reported discovering large concentric circular structures resembling artificial walls in the same general area where Donnellan later worked. Mercedes de Caso Bernal, a historian and archaeologist involved in that discovery, found structures measuring up to five meters in height and stretching 450 meters in length.

The Spanish team remained cautious about their findings, acknowledging that the formations could be natural rock formations rather than artificial walls. They refused to disclose the exact location of their discovery and admitted uncertainty about the structures’ true nature.

The Academic Perspective

Professional archaeologists remain deeply skeptical of all these claims, and their reasons go far beyond simple academic conservatism. Dr. Jon Henderson, head of archaeology at the University of Edinburgh, has spent years addressing Atlantis theories and consistently argues that people are taking Plato’s writings far too literally.

Henderson points out that Plato was a philosopher, not a historian, and that the Atlantis story was meant as an allegory about the dangers of pride and hubris. In Plato’s telling, disciplined Athenians triumph over presumptuous Atlanteans—a moral lesson wrapped in an engaging narrative.

The philosopher often used fictitious stories to convey deeper meanings, and Henderson argues that later generations became fascinated with the romantic image of a lost continent without understanding Plato’s actual intent. To ancient readers, the Atlantis story wasn’t an account of real history but rather a cautionary tale about fallen greatness doomed by arrogance.

The evidence supporting this interpretation is substantial. Plato’s dialogues “Timaeus” and “Critias,” written around 360 BC, describe Atlantis as being larger than Libya and Asia combined—a massive landmass that would be visible on modern sonar maps of the ocean floor if it actually existed underwater.

The story places Atlantis beyond the Pillars of Heracles (the ancient name for the Strait of Gibraltar), in the Atlantic Ocean. According to Plato, the island nation was ruled by Atlas and his twin brother Gadeirus, who oversaw a land rich in resources and architectural marvels before the gods destroyed it in a single day and night of earthquakes and floods.

The Pattern of Claims

Each new Atlantis discovery follows a predictable pattern. Researchers find underwater structures or geological formations that seem artificial or unusual. They measure these features and compare them to Plato’s descriptions, finding similarities that they present as proof. They often invoke catastrophic events or ancient advanced civilizations to explain how such structures came to be submerged.

The problem isn’t necessarily with the physical evidence these researchers uncover. Underwater archaeology regularly reveals genuine ancient sites, and the Mediterranean region contains numerous submerged settlements from various historical periods. The issue lies in the leap from “interesting underwater structures” to “legendary lost civilization.”

Natural geological processes can create remarkably regular formations that appear artificial to untrained eyes. Underwater erosion, sediment deposits, and tectonic activity can produce linear features, circular patterns, and even step-like formations that seem too organized to be natural.

Additionally, the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Europe contain hundreds of documented archaeological sites from known historical periods. Ancient Phoenician, Roman, and medieval settlements dot the coastlines, many of which are now partially or completely submerged due to sea level changes and coastal erosion.

When researchers find underwater structures in these regions, the most likely explanation involves known historical civilizations rather than mythical lost continents. Proper archaeological investigation requires careful analysis of construction techniques, material composition, and dating methods—processes that take years to complete and rarely produce the dramatic headlines that Atlantis claims generate.

The Waiting Game

Donnellan’s claims will ultimately stand or fall based on rigorous scientific examination of his evidence. His sonar scans and underwater footage represent the beginning of potential research, not the end of it. Professional archaeologists would need to examine the site independently, conduct detailed surveys, and analyze any recovered materials using established scientific methods.

The archaeological community has specific standards for evaluating claims about ancient civilizations. These include radiocarbon dating of organic materials, analysis of construction techniques and materials, comparison with known architectural styles from established cultures, and consideration of geological processes that might create natural formations resembling artificial structures.

Until Donnellan’s findings undergo this type of scrutiny, his claims remain in the same category as previous Atlantis discoveries—intriguing possibilities that haven’t met the scientific community’s standards for proof. The fact that his announcement came at a conference focused on alternative history rather than a peer-reviewed archaeological journal doesn’t inspire confidence among mainstream researchers.

The search for Atlantis keeps drawing people in because it represents something larger than archaeology. It’s a story about lost knowledge, advanced civilizations, and the possibility that history holds secrets waiting to be uncovered. Whether Donnellan has found evidence of such secrets or simply another chapter in humanity’s long fascination with Plato’s allegory remains to be seen.

The waters off Spain’s coast will keep their secrets until proper scientific investigation either validates or debunks these latest claims. Until then, Atlantis remains exactly where Plato intended it—in the realm of story and speculation, teaching lessons about pride, power, and the dangers of taking ancient tales too literally.

SOURCES: ExpressUK-01, ExpressUK-02, Daily Mail, Daily Star

NOTE: Some of this content may have been created with assistance from AI tools, but it has been reviewed, edited, narrated, produced, and approved by Darren Marlar, creator and host of Weird Darkness — who, despite popular conspiracy theories, is NOT an AI voice.