Atlantis – The Sunken Indo-European Capital in the Black Sea
Prof. Dr. Siegfried G. SchoppeUniversity of Hamburg, GermanyChristian M. Schoppe, M.B.A.Independent Researcher, Germany
ABSTRACT: Until around 5500 BC the Black Sea was a(smaller) freshwater-lake. The breaking Bosporus sill led to a flood commonly referred to as Noah’s Flood (Pitman/Ryan). Although heavily attacked, just recently this theory has gained support from new studies. We propose that Atlantis was an early Neolithic settlement at the former shoreline of that lake.With regard to the interactions between the Atlanteans and the ancestor tribes of Athens and Egypt we propose that the saga refers to a war between Europe and Asia Minor (Anatolia)where the peoples of Athens and Egypt with their equivalent goddesses Athene and Neith were located. The war was initiated over the obsidian stone (orichalcos) which was the equivalent of money at that time and which was found in the Carpathian Mountains (hinterland of At-lantis), on Milos (Kyklades) and in Anatolia.As far as archaeology is concerned, the year5500 BC marks the rise of the Vinca culture onthe Balkans with their Old European Writing and the Neolithic Diaspora in Europe. The first settlers reached Egypt at 5500 BC, and we fol-low the theory of Robert Schoch that the Sphinx dates back as far as 5000 BC. Finally, we were able to locate the former ten kingdoms of Atlantis due to the meaning of the words accompanied by a stunning similarity in sound.We suppose that the Pillars of Herakles are linked to the Bosporus for several reasons and not to the Strait of Gibraltar. Furthermore, in our opinion the Marmara Sea equals the harbor with a narrow entrance.
GENERAL ASSUMPTIONS. We assume that the information supplied by Plato is reliable also in details except for those facts relating to the military order of Atlantis:The use of horses, iron and large ships.The relation between Atlanteans and the peoples of Greece and Egypt plays a major role.It is important to understand that the saga explicitly refers to ancestor-tribes of these peoples in Asia Minor. In addition, the war against the peoples of Greece and Egypt was a war against Europe and Asia – not against Africa. Last but not least there is evidence that the goddesses of Athene and Neith both have their roots in Asia Minor. Further we came to the conclusion that the culture of the Hellenistic/ancient Greek people can directly be traced back to the Atlantean culture. We assume that the Flood of Deukalion is identical with the Flood of Atlantis – although the Egyptian priest denies this. The Greek culture known today is derived from tribes of the north invading the peninsula 1950 BC coming from Europe. It is not identical with the Greek culture referred to in the Atlantis saga.Since we are talking about a Stone Age culture, the horizon of view has to be limited.Traveling to a point at 500 kilometers of distance forth and back might have taken as much as 100 days in traveling. Also the center of the view has to be shifted. For today’s cultures de-riving from a Christia n/Roman tradition; the Mediterranean Sea represents the center of the world. As a matter of fact, the earliest domestication and settled cultures can be found in Asia Minor. The Black Sea represented the middle of the world even in times of Solon and Plato.Figure 1: World Map of Herodotos ~450 BC THE BEGINNING Our voyage through time starts around 8000BC. The first settlers dwelling at their homes and performing domestication of animals and plants can be found in Asia Minor. The story of Atlantis cannot have begun earlier, because a war against hunter and gatherer tribes in earlier times fails to make sense.Often the level of development at this Stone Age area is largely underestimated. As a matter of fact, most crafts of the Iron Age can also be found in the Stone Age. The relation of a low density of population pl us rapid progress in technology plus fresh soils and favorable climatic warm and humid conditions in Asia Mi-nor at that time made this a golden age. With respect to a very low population of the world(estimated 10 million) people were building large settlements with populations possibly exceeding 5000 inhabitants.A major example is the city of Catal Hüyükin today’s central Turkey. This city featured rectangular buildings, textiles in the style of the1960’s AD, cattle, ovens, cl ay seals, pottery from the very beginning, basketry and even slag from copper melting was found. The average tallness of the population indicates a very good level of nutrition.Interestingly, this city shows aspects that can be found in Atlantis. First and foremost the whole city was held in the colors red (house frameworks), white (clay on walls) and black(paintings). People were floating timber down the rivers. There also was a strong affinity to the concept of twin-gods.The golden age refers to a good time, a state of paradise. Referring to conservative Greek mythology this is the time of the goddess Gaia(earth and fertility) and the gods Uranos (sky),Tartaros (below earth) and Pontos (sea),whereas Gaia can be viewed as prima interpares.The existence of the female goddess in CatalHüyük is more than evident. Uranos is present,too: It was the habit of these people to expose their dead to birds. Tartaros can be found in the vast use of volcanic obsidian stone (coming from below the surface of the earth). The concept of volcanoes was known to the people of this village: A picture shows the eruption of the volcano Hasan Dag in Anatolia. Pontos is the Black Sea. The Greek term“Pontos” means “sea”. Pontos alone is the Black Sea even in Hellenistic times. In the same way the Indo-European term “mare” (Latin), “meer”(German), “morje” (Russian) or “meru” (Indian)originally means the Black Sea. According to the Greek view of the world the Pontos was the middle of the world and the source of all water.In their opinion this sea fed (through rain falls and underground flows) all rivers and springs. The water was then collected in an ocean surrounding the world and transported back to the Pontos through the Tartaros. At that time the Black Sea was a freshwater lake. Applied to the content of the Bible this allows to locate the Paradise. According to the findings of archaeology the time of 8000 to6000 BC marked a relative ly wealthy time. The advanced Settlers were located throughout Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Jordania and Israel. According to the Bible there was a flow coming out of Eden feeding f our major rivers in the Garden of Eden. According to Greek thinking these rivers do not have to have an intersection.They are fed by the Pontos which probably equals Eden or – in Sumerian mythology – the god Ea.Two of these rivers can easily be located since they are still known today under their ames Euphrates and Tigris. The stream of Gihon has been the subject of many discussions. As a matter of fact, the Gihon is a spring at Jerusalem explicitly mentioned in the Bible. The Greek view in this context explains how the river can flow “around” the vicinity: It is a spring.The first of the four rivers is the Pischon. A search for a river and gold in the area immediately leads to the river Menderes in Turkey andthe kings Midas and Kroisos who accumulatedunprecedented estates of gold on this area.The biblical view of a garden watered byEden perfectly matches Greek mythology andthe rivers mentioned in their correct sequencefrom left to right describe the area where settlers lived in at that time.
THE RISE Ice Age Migrations and Foundation Archaeology noted that some time before 6000BC several settlements in Asia Minor were abandoned. For Catal Hüyük it was eminent that the use of timber was reduced rapidly, which might indicate a climatic shift. Indeed, in the meantime core drillings in Greenland’s ice caps revealed that there was a mini-Ice Age from6200 to 5800 BC, which is also confirmed by the development of the glaciers in the Alps.Conditions were getting drier and colder which forced settlers to abandon their villages and cit-ies. Catal Hüyük was abandoned some time be-fore 6000 BC.The change in Asia Minor gave raise to newcultures in Europe. While Greece itself had seen settlers as early as 6700 BC, new cultures blossomed at the Danube and Dnjestr regions.Figure 2: Movement of Settlers Out of Anatolia What archaeology did not take into account until today is the fact that most of the migrations went into the area of the northern Black Sea.Today’s continental shelf in the northwest edgeused to be a large plain.Figure 3: Black Sea Before/After the Flood (Pit-man/Ryan)The key to understanding Atlantis is that after the level of technology augmented rapidly from8000 to 6000 BC, the time around 6000 BCmarks a dramatic change in the organizational model. Asia Minor knew a village-by-villageculture without the prob lems of separation and warfare.First of all, the organization in Asia Minor was matrilineal, i.e. estate was inherited via women and the prime god was a goddess.Whereas in the first generation of gods in the golden age the goddess of fertility was clearly dominating, in the silver age the Titan Kronoswas the first god. The rulers of Atlantis were kings and the first cultures to be found in Europe after the flood were ruled by men. This indicates that the change took place with the es-tablishment of Atlantis around 6000 BC.Interestingly, the matrilineal structure did not change in Asia Minor until around the first millennium BC. The Hellenistic Greeks – direct descendants of the Atlantean culture – still had to cope with cultures ruled by women (i.e.Sparta, Amazons). This change is also very dramatically reflected in the Bible with Eve harvesting the apple which brought sin over mankind and led people to fight each other – including having to leave paradise as confirmed by archaeology. Since people then did not know the back-ground of the Ice Age the female rulers obviously had failed the gods and men took the chance to change the balance of power. The important thing is, however, that this change gave the Atlantean culture a strong aggressive potential in the first place.From Greek mythology we also learn that in the time of the Titans the land was divided be-tween them. Atlanteans built a national culture by adhering to Iapetos. In the Bible, Iapetos is reflected by Japhet, w hose sons (i.e. Javan =Greeks) can be found around the Black Sea.Finally, Atlanteans introduced the concept of godlike kings. This concept has been copied throughout history by most successful cultures such as the Sumerian or Egyptian cultures.The combination of a strict structure and hierarchy, plus a national identification, plus an increased aggressive potential is what allowed them to overwhelm the whole of the known world within a blink of history.
The First Empire The plain in the northwest of the Black Sea provided people with favorable conditions allowing two crops per year, as well as intensive trade via the major European rivers and the Black Sea Lake. Irrigation was possible and conceptionally nown as early as 7000 BC, as the Stone Age city of Jericho revealed. Indian Elephants lived in the plain, as they did in Syria until as late as800 BC. Without doubt migration plus favorable conditions gave rise to a rapidly increasing population.Figure 4: The Plain Before the Flood (Pitman/Ryan)The capital was founded by Atlas, a son of the Titan Iapetos. We believe that this city is most probably to be found in the former mega-deltaof the rivers Dnjestr, Bug and Dnjepr. His brother Gadeiros plays a central role, because this province still existed at times of Solon under this name. We suppose that this name refersto the ancient people of the Getae, who lived inthe area of today’s Bulgaria. No reference couldbe found to the next th ree kings, since their provinces in the direct vicinity of the capital were flooded. However, the first five kings arer eflected in conservative Greek mythology:Atlantis Mythology Greek Mythology Poseidon (father) Iapetos (father)Atlas Atlas (son) Ampheres Prometheus (son)Euaimon Epimetheus (son)Mneseus Menoitios (son)Gadeiros/Eumelos Hesperos (relative)
Table 1: First Five Kings of AtlantisDue to increased population the territory grew along the big European river-areas. Consequently, these five kings can directly be attributed to these rivers:King Meaning River Autochthon (1) Native Danube Elasippos (2) Horse of War DonMestor (3) (Sound!) Ripe DnjestrAzaes (3) Small One BugDiaprepes (3) (Sound!) Glory Dnjepr(1) Native population upwards the river Danube(2) Horse first domesticated in the area of the Don(3) Earlier in the plain the ripe one (Dnjestr) and the smallone (Bug) would flow into the glorious one (Dnjepr)Table 2: River-Kingdoms of Atlantis According to Plato the names of the Kings had a distinct meaning. Solon translated them carefully into Greek. This fact should not be ig-nored. It may appear surprising that even today a meaning and stunning similarity in sound can be found and that even the sequence of namingthe kings makes sense, since these names have been transferred from Atlantean to Egyptian and than to Greek language. As we will show later,the languages of Atlanteans and Hellenistic Greeks are incidentally the same and west rongly assume that al so the earliest language as well as writing in Egypt can be traced back to the Atlantean culture, which at the end spread deep into Asia Minor.The obsidian stone can be viewed as Stone Age money. It was used and valued throughout the known world in the Stone Age. It was replaced in its function as money after the flood5500 BC by the spondylus shell throughout Europe. This stone was found in the Carpathian Mountains, on the volcano- island Milos and incentral Turkey. We assume that this plus possibly the gold findings in western Turkey eventually were reasons for the war of Atlantis on Europe (= Tyrrhenia; today’s Greece) and Asia(Ancestor tribes of Athens and Egypt). A war between settlers in immediate regional contactover wealth and power perfectly makes sense ascompared to a global superpower attacking hunter and gatherer tribes throughout Europe and Asia.With respect to topography, the Black Sea isthe “Atlantic Ocean”. The flood of salt waterinto the freshwater lake led to the massive production of methane and hydrosulfide gases inthe dying lake, so that the sea became unnavigable after the flood. Th e rectangular plainmatches the sizes provided by Plato and issloped southwards as described. The area has asteady wind coming from northwest and is shel-tered by the Carpathian Mountains (= Atlas-Mountains) in the northwest. Throughout timethis area delivered goods via the rivers Alt andDanube to Atlantis. The ri ch native villages asdescribed have been found by archaeology inthe form of Starcevo-Coeroes-Cris cultures.Figure 5: Black Sea Before and After the Flood; Areacontrolled by Atlantis (Schoppe)The whole of Atlantis can not have been an is-land. Since the province of Gadeiros still ex-isted at Solon’s times, simple logic commandsthat it cannot have been an island. EberhardZangger showed that the word “island” has beena mistaken translation. The Egyptian sign means“foreign country” in the first place. With respectto geology the area is a continental shelf floodedseveral times in earth history. We are quite surethat the central island (= capital) is a domepressed up like for exampl e snake island off thecoast of Romania. The “holy colors” alreadyseen in Catal Hüyük prob ably were found here,which gave the table mountain an importantmeaning: red (copper), white (carbon) and black(petroleum) layers. With respect to the Pillars of Herakles thefollowing has to be noted. Stone- or even Iron-Age people had no idea of an Atlantic Oceanand the Mediterranean as a harbor; to the con-trary: They were positiv ely convinced that therewas a circular sea around a flat world. Based onthe reduced horizon and the shifted center ofview (to Asia Minor) the Marmara Sea was theharbor and the Black Sea was the real sea.The maintained misinterpretation resultsfrom the fact that Herakl es went to Iberia. Atlate Hellenistic and at Roman times Iberia wasSpain. However, this leads to inconsistencies:After putting up the Pillars (supposed to be Gi-braltar) Herakles put together a fleet to go toIberia – he was still there! And he came backvia Thracia (today’s Bulgaria and Romania)! Asa matter of fact, in ancient times Iberia was anethnic group in the east of the Black Sea in thevicinity of the far better known land of Colchis.Peter James brought up that Roman writer Ser-vius remarks: “We pass through the Pillars ofHerakles in the Black Sea as well as in Spain”.Consequently, in this case the Pillars equal theBosporus.THE DECLINE AND RELAUNCHThe FloodAt the last Ice Age the level of the World Oceanwas about 120 meters under today’s level. Theelevation rose until about 3000 BC. At the endof the last Ice Age around 15000 BC the BlackSea was filled with water from the melting gla-ciers in Europe and flew into the Mediterranean.Sometime around 10000 BC the water from theglaciers was temporarily redirected into theNorth Sea. Consequently, the level of the BlackSea fell to around 120 meters below today’s sur-face, where a shoreline and intact dunes can stillbe found today. Around 5500 BC the worldocean was about 15, the Black Sea about 120meters below today’s surface. Probably due toan earthquake which is a common event in thisarea the land bridge be tween Europe and Asiabroke and the saltwater from the Mediterraneanflooded the freshwater Black Sea Lake.Pitman/Ryan brought up radiocarbon datingof freshwater and saltwat er shells taken fromdiffering locations in the north in order to sup-port their case of a catastrophic deluge around5500 BC. An expedition led by Robert Ballardto the former shoreline in the south off the coastof Turkey confirmed th e dating of Pitman/Ryanand additionally brought up obsidian stone thatcannot normally be found in this non-volcanicdistrict.Figure 6: Black Sea Change in Fauna 5500 BC (Dimitrov)In addition, a review of the sediments from thebottom of the sea showing a rapid change fromthe grey freshwater to black saltwater sedimentstaken 1969 by another expedition confirmed thisdating as well as a project sponsored by theEuropean Union did in 2004.Figure 7: Change in Sedimentary Layers 5500 BC (Dimi-trov)Since the theory obviousl y jeopardizes the cur-rent dogma, it was heav ily challenged by lead-ing scientists throughout the world. However,the critics fail to provide empiric evidence.Nonetheless, established science tries to movethe geocatastrophic event into a timeframe ofhunter and gatherer tribes in order to be able tomaintain the current proposition.As a consequence of the rupture of the landbarrier at today’s Bosporus, the Black Sea roserapidly at a rate of approximately 15 centimetersper day, thus f illing the plain of Atlantis, to-day’s continental shelf in the northwest. Whilethe rise heavily impacted the people settling inthis area, it yet (at the same time) gave themtime to flee.It has to be noted that the way of the floodinglet Atlantis disappear in the Sea forever andrelatively slowly. This picture is conceptionallyfollowed by the details provided by Plato andthe Bible as opposed to a tsunami like eventtriggered by an earthquake or meteorite. Suchan event would destroy Atlantis immediatelyand would allow the rema ins to be seen againafter the flood has vanished.Post Flood MigrationsAs a result of the flood a relatively dense popu-lation started to migrate. It has to be expected,that immediate refugees settled in the vicinity ofthe Black Sea, while their movement triggered a2nd waive of relocations in the meaning of avery rapid further spread of settlers and farmersand knowledge in all directions.As a matter of fact, the year 5500 marks sig-nificant changes. The first settlers to today’sEgypt migrated there around 5500 BC. Littlehas been found about them. The first cities wereprobably built in the river delta of the Nile.However, since the level of the Mediterraneanrose another 15 meters (!) between 5500 and3000 BC, today the first settlements are burieddeeply under sediments a nd water. Even the dy-nastic city of Sais, where the Atlantis saga camefrom, is covered by soil and ground water today.In Turkey the year 5500 marks the end andthe beginning of several settlements. However,as opposed to earlier an d later times, no settle-ment survived the impact of the migrations un-disturbed.With regard to Europe it has to be noted thatthe mini Ice Age of 6200 to 5800 BC let settlersmigrate to the vicinity of the Black Sea in theDanubian and Dnjestr regi ons after dwelling inAsia Minor about 2000 year s. After another al-most thousand years of dwelling in these areasthe year 5500 marks the almost immediate con-quering of the whole of Europe by the Band Ce-ramic people. The 2 nd waive of settlers or colo-nists reached southern Germany in 5500 BC andby 5300 BC they were found all over Europefrom Paris to the Ural Mountains with an im-pressingly standardized culture.With regard to Indo-European language di-version it has to be noted that latest research byGray/Atkinson indicate s that this languageoriginated in Asia Minor. As early as 6700 BCthe languages spoken today split from the Ana-tolian origin, probably marking the first move-ments from Asia Minor into the Black Sea plain.These early migrations have not been confirmedby archaeological means so far since the tracesare buried in the Black Sea under thick layers ofsediments.Around 6400 BC the Tocharian branch splitoff this language. This language was found inthe Taklamakan desert in China. Due to themelting glaciers, the way into Far East was notyet deserted, so that th e first migrations obvi-ously did not stop in the northern plain butspread further into Asia. Scientific evidenceshows that during the “Silver Age” the conceptof lake dwellings as well as the use of domesti-cated pigs and millet was imported from there.On the other hand, just recently it was discov-ered that wheat out of Asia Minor or Europewas in use there.While the Anatolian and Far Eastern lan-guage tree diversions cea sed, the European partwas incubated in Atlantis with its increase inpopulation. About 5500 BC this part spreadover Europe with the migrations triggered bythe flood and broke in to pieces around 5000 BCin an archaeologically ev ident wave of warfare and massacres. The extreme standardization of this Europeanculture over a certain pe riod of time raises thequestion whether this cu lture had a center. Thetrade routes of spondylus shells – the money replacing the obsidian stone – indicate that thiscenter was located close to the Black Sea. Herewe find the immediate refugees from Atlantis.One wave of refugees from the Atlanteancenter followed the river Danube. The first se-cure place in Bulgaria and Romania was alreadycovered with settlers. He re was the area of theprovince of Gadeiros. Si nce the military powerof this province was still intact the refugees hadto pass and found a new home on the Balkans,past the iron gate of the Danube River in the vi-cinity of the former native (autochthon) settlers.The Vinca culture started around 5500 BC onjuvenile soils without another comparable cul-ture as a predecessor. The settlements wereplanned and often had terraces. With regard tothe culture it can be said that it was very similarto that of Catal Hüyük with regard to crafts andarchitecture and with regard to religion an be-lieves. The cult of bulls is evident and the colorsred, white and black were omnipresent.What makes this culture extremely interest-ing is the fact that it had a writing system. At-lantis had a writing system; such a system wasrequired in order to tr ansport the details knowntoday over time, and finally the location of this first writing system in the world tells us whereAtlantis was located.Figure 8: Vinca ScriptOn a submarine expedition, Petko Dimitrovfound a plate at the former shoreline in a depthof 120 meters. Not only that this plate wasfound to be late Neolithic; it carries the samesigns that are known from the Vinca culture.This is the first direct link from the Vinca cul-ture back to the Atlantean roots in the BlackSea.Figure 9: Noah’s Plate (Dimitrov)
Comments are closed.