canal
Atl
Atl as a constituent part of the name ‘Atlantis’ is frequently associated with the Mexican Nahuatl word for water. However, Antoine Gigal, the Egyptologist, in a 2011 interview(a), pointed out that ‘atl’ is also the Egyptian word for canal! Her intention was to get off the subject of Atlantis, but she may have inadvertently given additional ammunition to those that claim some cultural links between ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica.
In the seventeenth century, Olof Rudbeck proposed that ‘Atle’ the name of an ancient Swedish king was in fact a variant of Atlas. This tenuous link combined with some other coincidences encouraged Rudbeck to claim Sweden as Atlantis.
All this highlights the need for caution when using single words to bolster any theory; similarity should not be confused with identity.
(a) http://projectcamelotproductions.com/interviews/antoine_gigal/antoine_gigal.html
Sherbro Island
Sherbro Island off the West African state of Sierra Leone has joined the ranks of suggested Atlantis locations. In 2007 a former head of Siena University’s archaeological photo-interpretation department, Marcello Cosci, published a book, in Italian, outlining this radical new theory. He has based his views on a protracted study of satellite imagery of the island that appears to show a citadel surrounded by three ditches plus a canal, matching Plato’s description of Atlantis.