De Beer, Sir Gavin

De Beer, Sir Gavin

In a talk by former Director of the British Museum (Natural History) Sir Gavin De Beer, the existence of Atlantis is questioned. Known facts about Atlantis are outlined, with a suggested location by Professor Angelos Galanopoulos at the University of Athens. Plato's writings on Atlantis are dissected for evidence, with theories ranging from Scandinavia to West Africa debunked. Galanopoulos supports the theory that the disappearance of Atlantis reflects the destruction of Minoan Crete, with a suggested location at Santorin in the Aegean. Carbon 14 tests on remains found at the site are dated at 1500 BC, and a hypothesis is presented that a mistake in reading Egyptian numerals could place the disappearance of Atlantis at 1400 BC. Evidence from other volcanic eruptions is presented to support the theory, with the collapse of Minoan Crete attributed to the eruption at Santorin. Despite the controversy surrounding the date of the eruption, the story of Atlantis is suggested to not be dismissed as a fairy tale. The talk was broadcast on the Third Programme on August 14, 1966.

0:19:55

1966-08-14

1966-08-14

English

St. Clair Hood

Solon

Sir Gavin De Beer

Sir Arthur Evans

S. Marinatos

R.W. Hutchinson

R.A. Higgins

Plato

K.T. Frost

G.D.H. Wiseman

Charles Darwin

Angelos Galanopoulos

Atlantis

Spoken voice

Radio Programme

BBC Sound Archive

British Library

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

29SX6548

BBC00132

c208a935-2f2a-7bfb-e040-a8c004093871

Culture

Atlantis - Fact or Fiction? A talk by the former Director of the British Museum (Natural History). Broadcast in the Third Programme.\r\n\n\rPRE:Outlines known facts about Atlantis as given in Oxford Companion to \rEnglish Literature. Professor Angelos Galanopoulos, Head of Seismological \rInstitute, University of Athens, has provided location for Atlantis. Plato, in Timeas and Crito dialogues, gives more details about Atlantis (370 BC) - recounts what Solon was told in Egypt in 600 BC: a great royal state which sank into ocean 9000 years before; state consisted of many islands, one being metropolis with Temple of Poseidon, one having great plain 3000 stadia long and 2000 stadia wide; an advanced bronze civilisation. Athenian army was destroyed in same cataclysm. Plato was worried by dates and measurements, but believing Solon, placed Atlantis outside Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar) which today is proved to be "quite impossible" a location. Various proofs that ocean floor is quite different from continental surfaces - G.D.H. \rWiseman on basalt evidence, Madagascar and India; Darwin, too, is "quite clear" on this - "It shocks my philosophy to make land". \rAtlantis has been placed in Scandinavia, Heligoland, even West Africa; but textual evidence proves it couldn't be there; nor in Mounts Bay, Cornwall; nor be legendary Land of Lionesse (which is probably Lion in Calvados, \rBrittany). \rGalanopoulos supports theory advanced by K.T. Frost and S. Marinatos - that disappearance of Atlantis reflects destruction of Minoan Crete. Location for lost city - Santorin, islands of Thira and Thirasia, in Aegean 70 miles north of Crete. Demensions of site. Carbon 14 tests on remains found under 100 feet of pumice dated at 1500 BC. Galanopoulos' hypothesis that in Plato's translation or transcription of figures, mistake was made in reading Egyptian numerals - so that '9000' becomes '900' (i.e. 1400 BC) and '3000' and '2000' become 34 1/2 miles by 23 miles (which is measurement of plain of Messara, \rCrete). R.A.Higgins gives proof of Mycenaean Greeks in Crete before 1400 BC; \rSt. Clair Hood notes Pausanius' account of 373 BC destruction of Heliki (? - phon.) on southern shore of Gulf of Corinth to show how far-reaching the effects of eruption can be. Also similar evidence from eruption in 1883 of \rKrakatoa (volcanic ash fell even in Australia). Yet calculations show that \rSantorin eruption was "much more powerful" than Krakatoa. Minoan Crete was sea power which came to sudden and about 1400 BC - suggests that collapse was result of Santorin eruption. Mentions work of Sir Arthur Evans at Knossos, etc. R.W.Hutchinson had earlier suggested Thira as epicentre of volcanic eruption which destroyed Minoan civilisation; similarly Professor Marinatos \ris convinced of this. Date of eruption is still controversial but "the story of Atlantis need not be dismissed as a fairy tale". \rOTN:TLN 610/714 \rTXN/TDT:R3 14-Aug-1966 \rANT:None \rCON:DE BEER Sir Gavin (spkr) \r

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