Deruelle, Jean *

Jean Deruelle (1915-2001) was a French mining engineer, who identified Northern Europe as the cradle of technological development, preceding the great civilisations of the Middle East. He contends that the advances of Northern Europe diffused to the southern nations of the Mediterranean. Deruelle identified Imhotep as an Atlantean immigrant to Egypt, where he contributed to the advances of its civilisation during the 3^rd millennium BC and became its chief architect.

More specifically, he places Atlantis in the North Sea, on the Dogger Bank, which is a shoal around 100 km off the northeast coast of England. He has written at least two books^[278][279] on the subject of Atlantis.

Deruelle identified the megalith builders of western Europe as Atlanteans, an idea adopted by Sylvain Tristan, who also wrote a highly favourable review of Deruelle’s theories^(c).

A number of maps illustrating his theory are available on a French forum^(a).

Fortunately, an English translation of his theory is available on the de Grazia website^(b).

Deruelle imaginatively proposed that the great plain of Atlantis lay to the east of the Dogger Bank, stretching as far as what is now Denmark. Plato described the plain as being surrounded by a huge ditch. Then Deruelle, with a flash of ingenuity claimed that it was not a ditch but instead was a dyke, designed to hold back the slowing advancing waters of the North Sea that were being fed by deglaciation. He endeavoured to reinforce this claim with the proposal that the Greek word for ditch, ‘taphros’ can also be used for dyke. This interpretation seems possible according to W.K. Pritchett, the distinguished historian ^[1622.52.5].

^(a) Histoire Secrète :: L’ atlantide megalithique – Jean Deruelle (archive.org) *

^(b) The “Great Plain” of Atlantis – was it in Doggerland? (archive.org)

^(c) Jean Deruelle’s Atlantis – Atlantisforschung.de (atlantisforschung-de.translate.goog)