Paper: "Is Atlantis related to the green Sahara?"

     In his journal article, "Is Atlantis related to the green Sahara?," published in the International Journal of Hydrology, Hong-Quan Zhang makes the argument that the greening of the Sahara between approximately 12,000 B.C. and 5500 B.C. could explain the myths of Atlantis. During the green Sahara period, there were vast river systems and several large lakes (called megalakes and as large or larger than our Great Lakes) in or bordering the Sahara region. 

This map shows what North Africa was believed to have looked like during the Sahara greening period, with the author having marked what he postulates would have been the rough boundaries of the Atlantian empire as related by Plato. 

    He postulates that an Atlantian civilization could have formed around one of these inland lakes, connected to the Mediterranean by a river or outlet. And, in fact, he seems to have located what appears to be a circular structure that is perhaps the source of the description of Atlantis having circular harbors around it. This is the not the circular structure known as the Eye of the Sahara, which has also been suggested as a possible location of Atlantis. Rather, this structure which seems to be a smaller version of the Eye, is located almost on the Tunisian-Algerian border at 33°49’45”N, 7°43’50”E. 

    I've noted before that we live in strange time when what where previously considered conspiracy theories have been proven to be true. And I don't know think many people, including archeologists and anthropologists, have quite grasped how much the discovery of Göbekli Tepe has upended our long held beliefs about pre-Bronze Age history. I know that if I had suggested in my college archeology class that humans 10,000 years prior had been able to erect large, elaborately carved monuments, I would have been laughed out of class.