ANTH question

Lost Cities, Continents, and Civilizations

Major elements of a “lost city” myth

• A non-falsifiable hypothesis

• Not found = not found yet

• Perseverance (obsession?) is key!

• Based on mystery, adventure, danger,

and a romantic view of the past

• Lost cities become spiritual beliefs

• If found, they lose their value

Atlantis

Possible Locations of Atlantis

Where did it come from?

Genealogy of Greek Philosophers

Socrates

(469-399 BC)

Plato

(428-348 BC)

Aristotle

(384-322 BC)

Plato’s Academy and Dialogues

The School of Athens by Raphael

Are Dialogues Transcriptions of Real

Conversations?

• Plato born ~428 BC

• Dialogues written between 355 and 347

• Conversations supposedly took place 421

• 428-421 = Plato was 7 years old!

Dialogues of Timaeus and Critias

The Dialogue (fictional story)

• Focuses on a discussion of the “perfect

republic” (Athens)

• Critias talks about a war

between Athens and Atlantis

• Athens wins, and Atlantis

is destroyed by floods and quakes

• Critias dialogue was unfinished

The Atlantis “Game of Telephone”

Egyptian Priests

Greek Sage Solon (590 BC)

Critias the Elder (grandfather, 90, “Fool’s Day”)

Critias the Younger (421 BC)

Plato (355 BC)

Supposed location:

Straits of Gibraltar: Pillars of Heracles

Atlantis City Plan

Atlantis Destroyed

Atlantis as Rhetorical Device

Large, evil empire (Atlantis) vs. small,

peaceful republic (Athens)

Not convinced?

No accounts of this war in Greece or

Egypt (both within realm of influence of

Atlantis)

Where did Plato get the idea?

Minoan Civilization: The Real Atlantis?

Crete: Minoan Civilization

(3300-1200 BC)

Minoans: Palace at Knossos

Minoan Palatial Period (2000-1200 BC)

• 4 stories, 1000 rooms in the palace

• Height of art and decadence

Eruption on Thera (Santorini) ~1615 BC

Eruption on Thera (Santorini) ~1615 BC

Problems with Minoan Theory

• Too small

• Wrong location

• Eruption too late

• Athens had only small towns at this time

• Atlantis as a parable – not history

(Plato was a philosopher, not a historian)

• Civilization continued for 300 years

Atlantis:

The Myth that Never Dies

Graham Hancock

The Bimini Wall

Tessellated Pavement at Eaglehawk Neck, Australia

Atlantis Conclusions

• Originated in Plato’s dialogues

• A rhetorical device run amok

• No evidence for it anywhere

• Geological and archaeological evidence to

the contrary

El Dorado

Origin of the myth

• The Muisca of Colombia

• Leader covered himself in gold, went to the lake to pay homage to a goddess

• Tales of “the golden man” reached the Spanish

Lake Guatavita

Sir Walter Raleigh

• Founder of Roanoke colony

• Undertook expeditions along Orinoco River

• Was beheaded for causing trouble with the Spanish

Alexander von Humboldt

• Avid explorer of South America

• Estimated amount of gold in Lake Guatavita from offerings at $300mill

• Estimate was exaggerated to $1.5bn = a long-lived tale

Lost City of Z and Percy Fawcett

Ciudad Blanca –The White City

La Mosquitia (“The mosquito coast”)

History of the myth

• Hernan Cortes talked about large settlements

• Charles Lindbergh thought he “saw something shine”

• Pech, Tawahka, Misquito stories of a “White House”

Theodore Morde

• Explorer

• Says he found a city with a giant carving of a monkey in 1935

• King Kong came out in 1933 – coincidence?

The Current Mix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hPjbAvx4gE

Steve Elkins

• Filmmaker with a B.S. in earth science

• Becomes fascinated by the Mosquitia

• Hears about the White City legend

• Convinces (rich) friend Bill Benenson to create a company (now UTL) and fund an exploration project…

LiDAR – Light Detection and Ranging

https://youtu.be/cA9WugNomdg?t=988

Dr. Christopher Fisher

• Archaeologist, Colorado State U.

• Specialist in Mexican archaeology and the study of complex societies

• Hired by Elkins/UTL to follow up on LiDAR data

Fisher et al 2016, 2017

“Water management”

What was actually found?

Extraordinary claims

• A “lost civilization”

• “Ballgame”

• “Splendid architecture”

• “With ten large plazas, pyramids, etc.”

• Surfaces of paved stones, altar stones

BUT…

• “thick vegetation blacked out any sense of layout or scale of the ancient city”

Blowback

What does the archaeology say?

The finds – nothing new

Ceramics in 2016 and 1941

Jaguar seat in 2016 and 1941

The finds – nothing new

Caches

“Altars”

Soils work

Stone thrones

Coastal Region Interior Region

EARLY BASIC

EARLY

BASIC

TRANSITIONAL

Selin Farm

Other sites

Sulaco Polychrome

San Marcos Polychrome

Local NE PolychromeUlúa Polychrome Jo

yc e

1 9

9 3

: 5 9

C u

d d

y 2

0 0

7

Yojoa Polychrome

Trade and Exchange

Chichicaste Polychrome

Jo yc

e 2

0 1

3 : 1

4

Jo yc

e 1

9 9

3

Jo yc

e 1

9 9

3

B e

a u

d ry

-C ro

b e

tt e

t a

l 1

9 9

7

“Lost civilization”

Why connections to the past matter

Getting the public interested

Why are these things promoted/believed?

• Money

• Fame

• Social/Political reasons

• Romantic past

Research Paper Annotated Bibliography

• 3-5 references • At least 3 need to be scholarly/academic

• 2-3 sentences on how you will use each reference in your papers

Class Project 5: The Appeal of Lost Cities

• Watch at least 1hr of The Lost City of Z

• Think about what we’ve covered in class so far • Feder’s rules for a hoax

• Logical fallacies

• Major traits of a “lost city” myth

• How is Z similar to Atlantis? El Dorado? Ciudad Blanca?