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NEWS October 2024
OCTOBER 2024 The recent cyber attack on the Internet Archive is deplorable and can be reasonably compared with the repeated burning of the Great Library of Alexandria. I have used the Wayback Machine extensively, but, until the full extent of the permanent damage is clear, I am unable to assess its effect on Atlantipedia. At […]Read More »
Joining The Dots
I have now published my new book, Joining The Dots, which offers a fresh look at the Atlantis mystery. I have addressed the critical questions of when, where and who, using Plato’s own words, tempered with some critical thinking and a modicum of common sense.Read More »
Machu Picchu
Woods, Anthony
Anthony Woods is the author of Atlantis Ireland, published under the auspices of the unaccredited Keystone University(a) in Dublin, with Woods listed as CEO(b). To be blunt, for me as an Irishman, in spite of such an interesting title, I was greatly disappointed. In fact, I was by turn uncertain whether I should laugh or cry.
Woods engages in a generous level of speculation, which was certainly attention seeking. He selectively uses some mythological stories as if history whenever it suits his purpose [p.71]. The content is irritatingly repetitious throughout, references should have been numbered, which along with a few typos, all cry out for an editor.
His core contention is that Stone Age Ireland was a cultural hyperdiffusionist centre. He claims that megalith building, language and religion, all spread globally from Ireland, also known as Atlantis!
Among his many outlandish claims are that:
1.The ancient Irish language is the oldest in the world and is the most extensive with almost a million words [p.142], which is completely wrong by about a factor of six!
2.Irish megaliths are the most spectacular – obviously Woods has never heard of Brittany!
3.Megalith construction spread from Ireland to the world. However respected archaeologists such Aubrey Burl, Mike Parker Pearson and Robert Hensey [1766.6] burst that particular bubble with the their shared view that megalith building originated in France.
According to Woods, “the high concentration of megaliths on the west cost of Britain and France proves that Ireland was the fountainhead, the source of the megalithic mother culture.” The ‘logic’ here eludes me!
4.For some reason Woods thinks islands are ideal for evolution(p139), and that Cro-Magnon Man evolved in Ireland[p.103]!
5.Although Ireland was the island of Atlantis, the city of Atlantis (Cerne) was in Mauritania and is known today as the Richat Structure!
6.The Celts didn’t come to Ireland, they came from Ireland![p.99]
7.Woods makes the modest claim that the Irish visited America thousands of years before Columbus. Which may or may not be true, but what has that to do with Atlantis? [p.93]
In all, this book is not just an Hibernocentric rant. Woods also offers a lengthy diatribe against British imperialism and Vatican political interference, which, although probably justifiable, has also nothing to do with Atlantis
He introduces a range of subjects such as giants, Machu Picchu, Gobekli Tepe and the Garden of Eden, all with Woods’ imagined connection with ancient Ireland!
Apart all the nonsense about ancient Ireland, he barely touches on Plato’s dialogues, except to rubbish his narrative with “It’s clear that Plato’s legend is useful but unreliable, that it combined two separate related places, a lot of exaggeration and several historical errors.”[p.13] and twice patronisingly refers to Plato’s account as “useful but unreliable.”[p.50]
Woods did quote from Ulf Erlingsson, who made a more valliant attempt to link Ireland with Atlantis some years. Erlingsson matched the dimensions of 2000 x 3000 stadia (340 x 227 miles) given by Plato with the diagonal dimensions of Ireland [319.16]. Unfortunately, Erlingsson got it very wrong and Woods copied his error. Plato’s figures were the dimensions of the Plain of Atlantis, while the Central Plain of Ireland is just a fraction of its size(c), being very roughly 150 x 100 miles in extent. Now, who’s unreliable?
At which point, I could take no more and gave up.
Adams, Mark
Mark Adams is an American writer from New York State with the best-selling Turn Right at Machu Picchu[976] to his credit. He 
has spent recent years researching the subject of Atlantis, travelling extensively in the process. One of his trips took him to Ireland where I had the pleasure of meeting him and having many discussions on the subject.
His book, Meet me in Atlantis[1070], gives readers an up-to-date overview of modern Atlantis theories that is both comprehensive and fair. I am aware of the amount of research that Adams has put into this work, interviewing a wide range of individuals, including myself, on both sides of the Atlantic. He has an easy-to-read style and while I do not agree with all of his views, I sincerely believe that this book should be compulsory reading for anyone with a serious interest in the subject.
Following the initial publication of his book Adams gave a number of promotional media interviews and in May 2016, following the publication of the paperback edition, he wrote an article(a) listing three ‘problems’ that he believes should be kept in mind when embarking on a search for Atlantis;
“1. Every Single Reliable Clue We Have about Atlantis comes from Plato
2.Plato Was a Pythagorean
3. Plato Was a Philosopher, not a Historian”
For my part, I do not see these as problems, just matters for consideration rather than concern.
*In Adam’s book, he refers to Stavros Papamarinopoulos as “the world’s most respected Atlantologist” [p.191] However, it is interesting to compare Adams’ problems with the comments of Papamarinopoulos in a paper delivered to the 2005 Atlantis Conference in which notes that critics of Plato’s Atlantis “carefully neglect to mention that only Plato and not the historians mention the following:
1.The Achaean Athens of the 12th century BC described in detail in Critias,
2.The end of the Achaean world in the 12th century BC,
3. The assault of the Sea Peoples in East Mediterranean in the 12th century BC,
4. The position of the giant westerly continent and
5. ‘Atlantis’,
All these have been proved except the fifth. Plato was not aware of the 12th century BC turmoil but he described its events in general terms correctly.” [629.555]
Although I do not subscribe to No. 4, as you can see in the America entry, Adams’ view of Plato as a historian is contradicted by the highly regarded Papamarinopoulos.
>Jason Colavito, not unexpectedly, has offered a review of Adam’s book(b).<
(b) Review of “Meet Me in Atlantis” by Mark Adams – Jason Colavito (archive.org) *
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu is generally accepted to have been an Incan retreat, built in the middle of the 15th century on a barely accessible mountaintop of Peru about fifty miles northwest of Cuzco. It was apparently abandoned a century later and only brought to the attention of the outside world in 1911 when it was rediscovered by Hiram Bingham III (1875-1956).
In 2021 the use of a more advanced dating method (accelerator mass spectrometry) has pushed back the earliest date for the site by a couple of decades to 1420 AD(j).
Mark Adams, the American writer, wrote an account of his retracing of Bingham’s journey to Machu Picchu[976]. Along with the narrative of his pilgrimage, Adams has also interwoven a valuable history of the region.
In 2013, a Polish-Peruvian team, while exploring a previously unexcavated building on the site, claimed to have discovered that the structure was astronomically aligned(a). The following year saw a newly discovered section of the Inca Road, which leads to Machu Picchu, announced by the Andina News Agency(c).
In July 2016, it was reported that what are considered pre-Inca petroglyphs were discovered in the Machu Picchu region(d)(e). Research is proceeding.
The siting of the sanctuary has been something of a mystery, Recent research suggests that the existence of geological faults that lie beneath it may offer some of the answers. Rualdo Menegat, a Brazilian geologist, presented a paper to the Geological Society of America’s annual meeting in Phoenix, in which he claims that the Incas deliberately chose to build Machu Picchu and some of their cities where tectonic faults meet!(h)
It was revealed in 2019 that work had commenced on the building of a new international airport to service Machu Picchu, a development that has been vigorously opposed as a threat to the already fragile site. It is worth noting that in 2017, 1.5 million visitors, nearly twice the limit recommended by UNESCO, came to Machu Picchu(g).
Also in 2019, it was announced that an even older Inca site was discovered 1,500 metres higher than Machu Picchu using LiDar(i).
Some pathetic attempts have been made to link Machu Picchu with Atlantis. One of them claims that “This was the (summer?) residence of the continental governor, who at the time of the destruction of Atlantis was a woman.”(b) Others, such as Rand Flem-Ath along with the late Colin Wilson[063], as well as Jim Alison, have included the Andean site in proposed global grids linking prehistoric sites.
A less-known Inca site is that of Choquequirao(f), sometimes referred to as the ‘sister’ of Machu Picchu. Only a third of the site has been excavated so far.
>In March 2022, it was reported that “a new academic paper argues that since its rediscovery more than a century ago, the site has been known by the wrong name. A Peruvian historian and a leading US archaeologist argue that the Unesco world heritage site was known by its Inca inhabitants as Huayna Picchu – the name of a peak overlooking the ruins – or simply Picchu.”(l)<
Charles R. Kos expressed a belief “that Macchu(sic) Picchu in Peru which is held to be ‘Inca’ is in fact, I am fairly certain, an Irish Monastery from the Dark Ages.”(k)
(a) https://atlantipedia.ie/samples/archive-2330/
(h) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190923140814.htm
(j) Machu Picchu older than expected, study reveals | YaleNews
(l) Machu Picchu: Inca site ‘has gone by wrong name for over 100 years’ | Archaeology | The Guardian *
Alison, Jim
Jim Alison has written an extensive paper(a) on the highly controversial subject of a global aligment of ancient sites such as the Great Pyramid, Easter Island and Machu Picchu(b). At the end of the first page he concludes that the Cape Verde islands are possibly the remnants of Plato’s Atlantis, based on the geodetic fact that “Machu Picchu and the Great Pyramid are equally distant from the Cape Verde Islands. Easter Island and the Indus Valley are also equally distant from Cape Verde.” For similar reasons he thinks that the Bay of Bengal as well as near Ilha Martin Vaz, a location off the coast of Brazil, should also be considered as possible candidates.
Martinez Concha, Santiago
Santiago Martínez Concha is a Colombian author who published in March 2012 an English Kindle version of his Spanish language book with the title The Discovery of Atlantis [2055].>He has published over a dozen other books, also in Spanish(a), including a series, CODEX, which deals with the antediluvian world.<
‘Discovery’ is poorly translated and includes four, apparently important, checklists all in Spanish! He places Atlantis in the region of the Azores which sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) and considers all other proposed locations as mere colonies of Atlantis. He refers erroneously to the MAR as a subduction zone, but that is a minor matter compared to his insistence on a connection between Atlantis and features on Mars! He also includes the claim that Atlantis was destroyed by the Earth-Mars Orbital exchange, based on the ideas of creationist Donald Patten (not Alan Patten).
Martinez would also appear to suffer from chronic pareidolia, seeing giant heads in rock outcrops, guardian animals and a view of a queen about to give birth at Machu Picchu. You could not make this up unless you were experimenting with Colombia’s biggest export.
The Atlantis Blueprint
The Atlantis Blueprint[0063] by Rand Flem-Ath and Colin Wilson, is a follow-up to the highly controversial, When the Sky Fell by Rand Flem-Ath and his wife Rose. The focus of this book is on the claimed existence of a worldwide network that incorporates such famous sites as Giza, Machu Picchu, Easter Island etc., etc. The authors claim that these monuments were arranged in a global geometric pattern by an advanced ancient civilisation that included Plato’s Atlantis. This breathtaking idea is not one that I can subscribe to, as it seeks to tie up too many of the mysterious loose ends of ancient history at one fell swoop.
Cuzco
Cuzco is a provincial capital of modern Peru, which in the 11th century was the capital of the Inca Empire. One remarkable sight in the city is the 12-angle stone in the wall on Hatun Rumiyoc Street, which has now been outdone by a 13-angle stone, recently identified, which is built into an irrigation system at the Inkawasi archaeological site, located in Huancavelica region’s Huaytará district(c). The astonishing mortarless Inca masonry in the town has to be seen to be believed.
A few years ago Davide Andrea published his theory on how the Incas fitted those multi-angled stones(d). April Holloway has touched on the suggestion that the Incas or their predecessors had discovered how to soften stone(g). An extensive four-part article elsewhere(h) focuses on the Sri Lankan site of Sigiriya. where what appears to be numerous examples of softened stone can be seen. However, the author concluded that what was on display were features that had been cast in situ and that the same method had been employed when building the pyramids and creating the huge monoliths of Baalbek! It is worth noting that Andrea concluded that “we’re still unsure of how the Incas fit the stones so perfectly”.
The city of Cuzco contained The Corichancha, (Place of Gold), which the Incas dedicated to Viracocha and which astounded the Conquistadors in the 1530s when confronted with its opulence(b). It was 
covered inside and out with over 700 sheets of gold and silver. The nearby Garden of the Sun contained golden animals, birds and plants. Pipes, aqueducts and basins were also made of gold. The complex was fed by natural hot and cold springs. Apart from all this ostentatious wealth, some writers have drawn further parallels between Plato’s Atlantis, Homer’s Phaeacia and the Cuzco of the Incas. Although nobody, so far, has suggested that Cuzco had been the location of Atlantis it has been mooted that it may have been constructed as a reminder of the glory of a previous homeland. Donnelly considered Peru to be an Atlantean colony. Local people are clearly not unaware of the suggestion that Cuzco has been associated with Plato’s lost city and so you will find the Atlantis Hotel within a few blocks of the main square.
>Just 2 km north of Cuzco’s main square lies the remarkable fortress/temple of Sacsayhuaman, which is the largest structure ever built by the Inca. The irregular shaped stones used in its construction fit together like a jigsaw puzzle without the use of any mortar.<
Frank Joseph states[102] that north-west of Cuzco there is a sacred mountain whose summit and a village on its southern slope are known as Atalaia. Pre-Inca remains are also to be found in the vicinity of Cuzco, an ancient sun-worshipping city, which was recently discovered to have the highest ultra-violet levels on our planet. For centuries rumours have persisted(a) that a series of tunnels existed under Cuzco. In 2000, a 2 km tunnel was discovered beneath the city by the Spanish archaeologist, Anselm Pi Rambla(f).
Yale University in the United States, and the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cuzco (UNSAAC) in Peru, announced the establishment of an International Center for the Study of Machu Picchu and Inca Culture, in Cuzco. The Centre opened in 2011(a) following the return of hundreds of items looted by Hiram Bingham.
Brian Foerster is convinced that pre-Incan advanced technology was used in the earliest construction of Cusco, an idea that he expands on in a short YouTube video(e).
(a) https://news.yale.edu/2011/10/06/peru-yale-center-study-machu-picchu-and-inca-culture-opens
(b) https://www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_9.htm (offline Feb. 2016) see Archive 2921
(c) https://www.peruviantimes.com/24/thirteen-angled-stone-found-at-inca-site-of-inkawasi/23139/
(d) https://www.davideandrea.com/personal/ideas/inca_stones/index.html
(e) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwDRZ-u8E2Q
(f) See: https://atlantipedia.ie/samples/archive-3915
(g) Could Ancient Peruvians Soften Stone? | Ancient Origins (ancient-origins.net)
(h) How they softened the stone. Sigiriya. Part 1. Softening of the stone. (geolines.ru)