Research Centre Press— List of
Price 1/-
Publications
The Atlantis Bulletins.
1. The R esearch Group, Its Aim and Purpose.
2. Recent L ite ra tu re on A tlantis.
3. A tlan tis; th e K ey to the P ast.
4. The Gorgon, th e Polypus and th e K raken.
(In p re p a ra tio n .)
5. The P au l Sehliem ann M ystery. (In p reparation.)
6. Vedic F lood Legends. (In p rep aratio n .)
7. A B ibliography of Classical A tlan tean References.
The Hoerbiger MonogTaphs.
1. P lato and H oerbiger. B y H. S. Bellamy.
2. A B ibliography of th e H oerbiger Theory.
3. A Basic Outline of H oerbiger. (In prep aratio n .)
The Avalon Reports.
1. The E arliest Survey. B y K. H. Koop.
2. A B ibliography of M egaliths, P lace Names, U nits o f
M easurem ent, etc.
For Early Publication.
The Lost A tlantis. By W. J . B ryant. (A bout 10/6d.)
Geom etrical A rrangem ent of A ncient Sites. B y P. C. Tyler..
(A bout 5 /-.)
All Publications 1/-, or 25 cents in U.S.A., unless otherw ise
m arked.
E nquiries should be addressed t o :—
EGERTON SYKES,
9, Markham Square, London, S.W.3.
B .T .S ., 453-5, F u lh a m R o ad , S.W .IO.
Atlantis Bulletin No. 3.
M arch, 1948. or 25 Cents. U.S.
The Atlantis Research Centre
Atlantis the Key to the Past
By EGERTON SYKES.
One of th e m ajo r historical m ysteries which science has
still to clear up is th e problem of A tlantis. F irs t b rought to
th e notice of the m odern w orld by P lato in B.C. 460, th e
problem of this vast continent, occupying m ost of th e A tlan tic
Ocean betw een the W est Indies and th e Canaries, has filled
th e m ind of historians, geographers, anthropologists, and eth ­
nologists, fo r 2,000 years w ithout doing m ore th a n providing
a satisfacto ry fram ew ork of conclusions—based on ascertained
d a ta — on which fu rth e r studies can be based.
The th ree questions to be considered in relatio n to Atlanti.4
are:
W hen did it exist?
W here was it situ ated ?
W hy did it vanish?
I t m ay well be asked w hy a query as to th e date w hen
th e mere existence of A tlan tis is itself u n certain. This, how ­
ever, is n o t th e case. The m ajo rity of geologists and biologists
are quite w illing to accept th e th eo ry of a land bridge across
th e A tlan tic Ocean, i.e., by one or more larg e islands—b u t are
still inclined to th in k th a t th e last vestiges disappeared before
m an h ad peopled the earth.
This is a point of view which th e m ajo rity of experts are
n o t p rep ared to accept. The v ast conglom eration of sim ilar
m an-m ade custom s to be found on b oth sides of th e A tlan tic
basin is direct p roof to th e contrary. A ny ta c it assum ptions
th a t mum mification was invented sim ultaneously in Chili, P eru,
th e C anaries and E g y p t; th a t th e idea of building pyram ids
occurred in dependently to th e M ayas and th e E g y p tia n s ; th a t
th e couvade— a system Avhereby th e fa th e r goes to bed a fte r
th e b irth of th e child—was in itiate d both in th e M editerranean
B asin and in C entral A m eric a; th a t th e p ractice of deform ing
th e heads of children to m ake them egg shaped which is found
all over Am erica, and ro u n d th e shores of th e M editerranean
Sea (in parenthesis, th e reason fo r this p ractice w as th a t th e
original A tlanteans ap p ear to have h ad heads of this shape,
i.e., w ith no bridge to th e nose b u t a d irect line from the
n o stril to the apex of th e head, some of th e early E g y p tian
ru lers w ere of this t y p e ) ; th a t the m egalithic and eyclopean
stru ctu re s of sim ilar design dotted all over Mexico, C entral
A m erica, P eru, B olivia (i.e., the u p p er reaches of th e A m azon),
E ngland, F rance, Spain, and P o rtu g al, the N orth A frican
coast, etc., w ere n o t th e p roducts of an unified sy stem ; would
a p p ear to be iinjustified and in contradiction to th e evidence.
I t m ay th ere fo re be safely assum ed th a t A tlantis existed
a t aboiit the period assigned by P lato, th a t is u p to B.C. 9600,
and th a t w hile its culture was m ainly th a t of tiie Stone Age,
nevertheless the inhabitants had a know ledge of non-ferrous
m etals (the orichalcum m entioned by P lato w ould ap p ear to
have been a copper alloy). T here is no indication th a t th ey
knew how to read or w rite.
T hat it existed any la te r is im probable. The E g y p tian
records go back to about B.C. 6000 as do th e M esopotam ian,
and th e pre-diluvial period was a considerable tim e before
them . H. S. B ellam y has calculated th a t the E g y p tian Solar
C alendar and the A ssyrian L u n ar C alendar coincided in B.C.
11,542, while the M aya and the H indu L u n ar C alendar system s
coincided in 11,653 B.C., a difEerence of 110 years. The P latonic
d a te of B.C. 9570 an d th e Theosophist one of B.C. 9564 m ay
both relate to the final stages of th e g reat disaster.
As to w here A tlan tis was situated, the nam e itself and
th e fa c t th a t P lato placed it to th e W est of the P illars of
H ercules, should be sufficient to otfset the views of th e F rench
an d Germ an schools (B utavand, H erm ann, Gattefosse, etc.)
who place it on th e N o rth or N orth W est coast of A frica or
th e W est coast of th e Ib erian P eninsular. T hat these sites
m ay have been those of tra d in g colonies, also overwhelm ed
by th e g re at disaster is most probable.
T hat th e D olphin Ridge, w hich form s the backbone of
th e A tlantic, was also th a t of A tlantis is a reasonable assum p­
tion. Follow ers of W eg en er’s th eo ry as to the d riftin g of th e
continents fo rg et th a t the riv e r Congo has an under w ater
channel of 700 miles in length in th e A tlantic, presum ably
m ade w here the sea was shallow er th a n now, b u t in any case
a w ork th a t m ust have ta k e n tens of thousands of years to do
and which m ust have been a g re a t period of tim e—say 10,000
years—^under w ater. R easonable estim ates as to the tim e ta k e n
fo r A m erica and E urope-A frica to d rift a p a rt to w here th ey
are now ran g e betw een 500,000 and 1,000,000 years, in any case
the m ovem ent in th e last 12,000 years since the subm ersion
of A tlantis w ould no t be m ore th a n a few miles.
The causes w hich produced th e A tlan tis d is a s te r, have
fo r m ost researchers rem ained a m ystery, because a flood of
such a m agnitude w ould m ean draw ing off th e surplus Avater
from th e seas of the earth, and it is difficult to see how th a t
can have been accomplished.
T here is only one force in n atu re th a t could have shifted
th e w aters of th e P o la r Seas over A tlan tis and th a t is th e
fo rce of gravity, which could have been b ro u g h t into p lay
^either te rre stia lly or cosmically.
In the first case th e axis of th e earth m ay have reached
:a p o in t of in stab ility and suddenly altered its position by a
'Couple of thousand miles, which would have been enough to
p re cip ita te a rush of w aters enough to have drow ned A tlan tis
and everybody on it, while the g rav itatio n al attra c tio n of th e
e a rth itself w ould have k e p t them there.
The second, and to m y m ind th e more probable altern a­
tive, is th e g ra v ita tio n al attra c tio n of a celestial body such as
th e moon. The A u strian engineer, H ans H oerbiger, considered
th a t the moon was a sm all p lan et betw een th e earth and Mars,
w ith an irre g u la r orbit, which was picked up by the earth
■owing to its having approached too close.
G ranted such an occurrence, th e g ra v itatio n al pow er of
th e moon, acting m ainly on the equatorial zones, w ould have
d raw n considerable am ounts of w a te r from th e N orth and
,S outh P o la r regions, to deepen th e A tlan tic by two to th ree
miles, a d epth which although b u t an infinitesim al p a rt of th e
•earth’s diam eter of 8,000 miles, w ould be sufficient to drow n
A tlantis.
I t is fo r th is reason, and th is alone, th a t concrete physical
p roof of th e existence of A tlan tis has not been found, and will
not be u n til we have evolved some reasonable m ethod of ex­
p loring th e A tlan tic depths. U ntil th en we shall have to be
satisfied w ith th e proofs of th e existence of an A tlan tean
■culture in the M editerranean area, in N orth A frica and South
W est Europe, in the W est Indies, Mexico and th e C entral
A m ericas and, finally, in th e Amazon basin—w here Colonel
F aw c ett lost his life—• as fa r as th e A m erican plateau. For-
-tunately, these are num erous.