Atlantis Rising (2017) - full transcript

Hollywood legend James Cameron and filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici go on an adventure to find the lost city of Atlantis by using Greek philosopher Plato as a virtual treasure map.

SIMCHA: 200 miles from nowhere,
looking for Atlantis.

With James Cameron
on board, it seemed
anything was possible.

JAMES: Pick it apart,
let's be rigorous.

SIMCHA: Now all I have to do
is find the city that most
people say never existed.

Too many dead ends,

must find a way
to connect the dots.

HEYWORTH: That looks
like a boat and if that's
the hull of a boat,

that boat's underwater.

FREUND: In criminal
investigations, you
follow the money.

In archaeology, you
follow the stones.

SIMCHA: The crazy thing is,
it's the same scene over,
and over, and over again.



I think I'm on
to something big.

-All right, here
we go, and action.

I've always been
fascinated by the future.

Can you step back a half
step, but I've also loved
imagining past worlds,

and what the people were like.

-Ahh!
-Okay, move forward slowly.

Look in the second
window just a little
bit as you go by.

When I was in high school,
I was fascinated by ancient
Egypt, by the Greeks,

by the Romans,
and Atlantis

and I think that underneath
this myth, this parable,

there has to be
something historically
that happened, and cut.

SIMCHA: Hi.

-So.

-How you doing, it's good
to see you, just awesome.



-This is my day job.

-It's a good day job.

-So, are we doing this?

-We're doing it,
going after Atlantis.

I've got the boat, I've
got, I've got the divers,
the ROV, the team.

-Oh man, I gotta be
there on that ship.

I've never, not
been on a ship.

-I know you do,
I know you do.

-It's killing me.

-So I know you,
I don't want.

Pull you off, and we
need to strategize, so.

-Yeah, hey Maria,
let's go to lunch?

MARIA: Okay, all right guys,
let's take lunch (inaudible).

-Let's get some maps.

SIMCHA: Everything we
know about this highly debated
topic comes from the Greek

philosopher Plato who
wrote some 2,400 years ago.

In Plato's tale, the
Atlanteans ruled an aggressive
empire stretching from the

Atlantic all the way to
the eastern Mediterranean.

Their capital, Atlantis, was
a port, a unique city made up
of three concentric rings

of land and water.

At its center, there
was a temple to the
god of water, Poseidon,

where the Atlanteans
sacrificed bulls.

There were also incredible
bridges and canals
connecting the various moats

and a central, wide canal
that cut across the city

and linked
the temple with the sea

and it all
came to a terrible end,
in a single day and night,

when earthquakes and
tsunamis destroyed the city,

submerging it
beneath water and mud,

but where is it?

-All right so, where are
we going to go first?

-A picture of a journey.

-Here's, here's Plato, right?

In Athens and he's talking
about a civilization
that, in his words,

spanned the whole region.

So it's a sea
going civilization.

-And they come from
somewhere over here, from
the western Mediterranean.

-Right, right, so
they could be anywhere.

-So what's my mission?

-Investigate some new
hypotheses, investigate the
ones that people tend to find

appealing, pick it apart.

Let's be rigorous.

-I'm looking for the
signs of a common civilization
that dominated the

Mediterranean all the way
to the Atlantic and maybe
this quest will lead to the

legendary Mother
City, Atlantis.

Quite a journey.

-Well you're going to
be, you're going to spend
a lot of time on boats.

-You're the,
you're the boat guy.

I get sea sick.

-Look you could, you
could fly but I think
if you go on a boat,

you'll think the way they
thought back then, and the
distances will mean something

to you, and you'll
understand what it's like to
be part of a trading culture.

-First stop?

-Well, look, I'm very partial
to the Minoans, as you know.

The Minoans were
definitely a sea-going
civilization, one of

the peak civilizations
of its day.

On Crete and on Thira,
1,100 years before Plato,
you've got a city and

it disappeared over night.

-Santorini.

-Yeah, Santorini.

Absolutely, and, and,
uh, why don't we get
Charlie into this?

You know, I mean he wrote, he
wrote the book on Atlantis.

-Charlie.
-Charlie.

Get Charlie, yeah.

SIMCHA: So a few days
later, and with the help
of a few seasickness pills,

I set sail along the Eastern
Mediterranean for the
Greek island of Santorini.

♪ ♪

3,500 years ago this
island looked much
different than today.

It had a round
shape with an opening
leading into the sea,

very similar to Plato's
description of Atlantis.

At that time, Santorini
was inhabited by the
great Minoan civilization,

but everything changed in 1550
BC when the volcano in the
center of the island erupted

with devastating force.

(explosion).

So is Plato describing
Santorini, when
he writes of Atlantis?

To answer this, I meet with
author, Charles Pellegrino.

CHARLES: Nah, this probably
happened post eruption.

SIMCHA: Using drones,
Pellegrino's conducting a
survey of ash layers in the

mouth of the volcano,
in which he's sailing.

-Can we come in closer to
the original grand layer?

SIMCHA: Recreating the
events that led to the
volcano's collapse.

-Behind, is one of
the largest volcanic
calderas in the world.

What existed on this island
before the eruption was a
mountain that was up to about

a mile high, it's all gone.

In the experience of human
history, this would have
been the largest volcanic

explosion, we're talking about
a force that would add up
to more than a million atomic

bombs detonating
right behind me.

(explosion).

SIMCHA: The eruption
went on for days.

A mass of rock, almost
equivalent to Mount Everest,
was blown into the atmosphere.

The sky was darkened for
days and vast areas of the
planet experienced winter,

which lasted two whole years.

The eruption and the
earthquakes that accompanied
it created a mega tsunami,

which reached a height of 800
feet and devastated the coasts
of Crete, Egypt and Turkey.

At the north coast of Crete,
the tsunami destroyed Minoan
coastal towns and obliterated

their massive fleet.

The cloud of ash that spread
from the explosion was so hot
that people who stood on the

shores of Crete disintegrated
as the cloud hit them.

Egyptian writings from that
time describe a huge shockwave
that destroyed houses,

temples and parts
of the pyramids.

-This event was so huge that
there is no way that the
civilizations of the time,

especially in the
Mediterranean, would have
failed to notice it and

mention it in their oral
and written history.

SIMCHA: So was the eruption
of Santorini the cataclysmic
event in Plato's story?

Are the Minoans the
long lost Atlanteans?

I travel with Charlie to
the only Minoan archaeological
site still standing

on the Island, the
Minoan city of Akrotiri.

It seems to match Plato's
description of a very advanced
Bronze Age civilization.

I'm amazed that we're
walking next to buildings
that are three-story high.

-Yes.

-And what, what,
35, 3,600 years old?

-Yes.

-The streets
are not that narrow, you've
got openness, open windows.

I can see people's
homes, they're more
or less the same so,

it's an egalitarian society.

-These buildings are
built with a certain degree of
earthquake resistance in mind.

In fact, you can see.

-Wait, wait,
wait a minute.

You're saying that these
people are building earthquake
resistant buildings?

-Very similar to some of
the designs that we're
developing in Japan

and in the United States.

-Today?

-During the 20th century
-Oh my God!

-As amazing as these
multi-story buildings are,
it's what's underneath them.

-What do you mean?

-Toilets, the plumbing that
runs through these buildings
is of a sort that we didn't

start seeing again, briefly
during the Roman period,
but in our own time,

not until 200, 300 years ago.

If, for example,
at the time of the American
Revolution in Philadelphia,

even at the palace in Paris,
uh, these toilets were the
stairwells and the streets

themselves, you could
smell Paris or Philadelphia
from two miles away.

-And here, 3,600 years
ago, these people have amazing
architecture, high technology,

flush toilets,
3,600 years ago!

We have aqueducts, hygiene,
open society, egalitarian, and
it's all destroyed overnight.

-Yes, yes.

-Is this Atlantis?

-I would say to
a 99% probability
that this is a part of

what Plato was writing
about in his story of Atlantis.

SIMCHA: So the Minoans were
a highly advanced civilization
that vanished due to a natural

disaster, but is this
enough to say that they
were the Atlanteans?

I'm not sure so I
check in with the boss.

JAMES (through computer):
Simcha, hey, so why are you
calling me?

You miss me already or
did something go wrong?

Did you sink the boat?

-Nothing, nothing went
wrong, no boat sinking.

Uh, I did spent some time with
Charlie on Santorini, and I
wanted to report back because,

you know, in many ways
it's very convincing.

It's a high technology.

It was destroyed pretty much
overnight, but Plato says they
came from the West and they

were aggressive, and the
Minoans were in the East, and
they were actually peaceful,

and the other thing that
really bothers me, even
though I think that, uh,

Santorini is part of the
story, Plato never describes
a volcanic eruption.

It's more like he's describing
tsunamis, and earthquake,
and sinking, and mud.

JAMES (through computer):
This gets to the kind of
the fundamental question of

our quest here, which is,
is there really one place?

Because you know how
I feel about this.

I feel it's a science
fiction story.

I, I feel that it's a
parable, it's a moral
and ethical parable,

and he's drawing from
different things and
their collective record.

He's piecing it
together, you know.

As a science fiction writer,
you call it world building.

SIMCHA: I differ.

I don't question that
Plato wanted to use
it for some purpose,

but I do believe that
he's not just cobbling
different pieces.

He talks about
a civilization, and there
must be a point of origin.

I do believe there's an
Atlantis out there somewhere.

JAMES (through computer):
All right, well look,
let's go find it.

-There's Malta out there.
There's Sardinia.
I want to keep going West.

JAMES (through computer):
Yeah, so go West, young man.

SIMCHA: I now sail West from
Santorini to the next prime
candidate for Atlantis,

the island of Malta.

Like many others, Peter, our
Maltese boat captain, believes
that his homeland is Atlantis.

He shares his
theory with my team.

We're investigating
the possibility that
Malta's Atlantis.

Now that's only possible
if Malta was a lot bigger.

PETER: Well, Malta was
definitely much larger in
the not so distant past.

If we take this table
as an example, if we took
Malta and put Malta there,

and we extended Malta
by bringing up that
flap on that table,

it gives you an idea of how
large this land may have been.

SIMCHA: What's the evidence?

-If you look around the
Maltese Islands, there are
areas where you can actually

see the bottom.

You've got a ridge here
across which is really
shallow with depths of as

little as nine meters.

-In your mind there's
no question that this shallow
area was once above water?

-Definitely, something
cataclysmic must have
happened in the past.

SIMCHA: Suddenly, incredible.

I got, I got to take
a picture for my kids.

Oh this is magical.

They're leading
us to Atlantis.

We dock in Gozo, one
of the five islands
that make up Malta.

Right away, Peter
takes me to the cliffs.

He wants to show me more
evidence that Malta was
once a much bigger island.

He starts with mysterious
tracks called cart ruts that
criss-cross the entire island.

These are very impressive.

Tell me about what
we're looking at here.

-Well, as you can see
these are clearly man-made
ruts, which were hewed

out of the rocks.

They put large stones,
round stones, very good
stones in the ruts.

SIMCHA: Like right here.

-That's right.

Then, they would put the
large boulders on top
of the spheres and push,

pull these huge stones
to build their temples.

SIMCHA: I got to tell you
this is very impressive.

When I heard about ruts,
I thought we're dealing with
some scratches in the stone,

but you see the depth
of that thing as you
go towards the cliff,

and clearly they must've
served some function.

It's strong evidence that
there was something there.

-It's probable that, uh, there
was a large civilization
that lived on a

larger island at the time.

SIMCHA: 6,000 years ago, the
cart ruts seem to have been

used to build
megalithic structures.

DAPHNE: The oldest
part of this building
dates to 2600 BC,

which makes it one of the
oldest man-made freestanding
structures in the world.

We think that the
main function of these
sites was sacred.

SIMCHA: The advanced
architecture on an island that
has been partially submerged,

fits with Plato's
description of Atlantis.

I now go to what seems to be
an even older structure to
learn about the people who

built these stone age temples.

It's amazing to me that
they built all this, without
the wheel, without any, uh,

metal tools, without cement.

-We do have remains here
and there of rounded stones,
which could have been used to

transport some
of the megaliths.

-They're living
here for a 1,000 years.

They're building these
amazing structures.

What happened to them?

-We know that the
culture stopped suddenly
in around 2500 BC.

-Have you
found weapons here?

-No, there is no indication
of any weapons at all and
there is really no

indication of any violence.

SIMCHA: The high technology
and the sudden disappearance
fits the story of Atlantis but

the Maltese were peaceful and
the Atlanteans were war-like.

So, I decide to
keep heading West.

According to Plato, Atlantis
is buried beneath water and
mud at the western end of the

Mediterranean, just past
the pillars of Hercules,

todays Strait of Gibraltar

and that's exactly where
Professor Richard Freund has
brought a team of divers

and marine archaeologists in his
years-long quest for Atlantis.

-This is the absolute
most sophisticated
search for Atlantis.

DIVER (over radio): Oh
my God look at this.

SIMCHA: As I sail west from
Malta, Professor Richard Freund
is exploring an area just past

the Strait of Gibraltar.

-There's three rules to
archaeology: location,
location, location.

If you're looking for a place
that has specific coordinates,
either in literature or in

inscriptions, you
go to that place.

SIMCHA: After years
of research, he believes that
the search for Atlantis begins

beneath these waters.

COASTGUARD:
Atlantic Explorer,
do you read me.

JOSE: Yes, go ahead, over.

SIMCHA: To find the lost city,
he's gathered some of the
best divers and marine

archaeologists in the world.

BILL: I have no doubt
that there are vast areas that
were once inhabited by people

that are now hundreds
of feet underwater.

-The evidence is really what
people want to hear about.

They don't want to hear about
the theories, they don't want
to hear about just geophysics,

they want to hear that there
is evidence and they want to
know what that evidence is.

Plato is writing in a very
specific time period, so when
he says that Atlantis was

located at the Strait of
Gibraltar, he called them the
Pillars of Hercules in his time,

every single mariner,
every single Greek reader,
every single person knew

exactly where he
was talking about.

We're right in front of
the Strait of Gibraltar,
the Pillars of Hercules.

You have to look right here.

SIMCHA: In order to identify
promising locations, Freund and
his team deploy a special

underwater radar and a highly
advanced multi-beam eco
sounder that produces detailed

3D images of objects
on the ocean floor.

-So what are we
hoping to find?

From my view, the smoking
gun, would be, ancient,

massive architecture.

We're not gonna find
the Disney-esque
version of Atlantis,

that it sunk and
everything is intact, and
the statues are standing,

and the columns are standing,
and the walls are perfect.

What we're going to find
is, pieces, but we're going
to find lots of pieces.

It's what I call
the debris splatter.

Debris splatter means,
whenever there is a
destruction,

the destruction is always
going to leave evidence
splattered over a large area.

Atlantis was supposed
to be a very large city.

Anything that is still
left from the debris is
going to end up in the

Atlantic in this area.

SIMCHA: On the command bridge,
the crew monitor the screens.

They're looking for
anything unusual bulging
from the sea floor.

JOSE: Here's what
we'll do, we'll go there
and then turn that way.

SIMCHA: The process
is painstaking.

Sometimes hours go by
without seeing anything
out of the ordinary.

-Oh.
-Okay guys.

JOSE: There we go.
There we go.

We started
seeing like a mountain.

Can be a rock, anything.

Around 4 meters of height,
56 meters wide.

So it probably means that
there is something down there.

EDOARDO (over radio):
I can't see anything.

Visibility really bad.

DIVER (over radio): Slow down.

RICHARD (over radio): We're
following the shot line down.

DIVER (over radio):
Clearing up.

SIMCHA: The divers are now
more than 150 feet deep.

DIVER (over radio):
What's that in there?

Can you see that?

♪ ♪

SIMCHA: It's a shipwreck,

but, it's not ancient.

It's made of iron and
it's relatively modern.

They keep looking
around, but it's soon
clear that, at this site,

they will not find what
they're looking for.

While the search continues
off the coast of Southern
Spain, I'm nearing Sicily.

Freund is right.

Plato places Atlantis west of
The Pillars of Hercules, and
most scholars are convinced

that he's talking about the
Strait of Gibraltar, but some
historians believe that Plato

is referring to the Strait
of Messina, between the
Italian peninsula and

the island of Sicily.

We're sailing right
through the Strait
of Messina right now.

Sunrise, it's gorgeous, and
you can really see how close
the two landmasses really are.

Italy is right over there and
right across, there is Sicily.

So, it's entirely conceivable
that at one point, these were
regarded as the Pillars of

Hercules, there might have
been physically some pillars
put up as you sailed out into

the Mediterranean.

So, I can totally imagine
that as seafaring got
better and they pushed out,

the Pillars of Hercules
moved from here, their
original position to Gibraltar

facing the Atlantic.

So if the Strait of
Messina is the original
Pillars of Hercules,

can it be that Sardinia,
on the other side of the
strait, was once Atlantis?

3,500 years ago, one of
the most impressive
civilizations of ancient

times thrived on Sardinia.

So I'm headed to one of the
7,000 sites that this
forgotten culture

left on the island.

I meet with American
researcher Robert
Ishoy who has been

studying Sardinia for decades.

Ishoy believes that
these spectacular ruins
called Nuraghe are

what's left of Atlantis.

This, Robert, is
impressive to be sure.

ROBERT: Yes.

SIMCHA: But is it Atlantis?

-This culture here on Sardinia
matches everything Plato
describes about Atlantis.

He talked about the
culture, as being a
very advanced culture.

Look at the architecture this
is very advanced technique.

SIMCHA: It is amazing, I
actually can't believe it.

You know, we're inside a
3,500-year-old structure,
built with no cement

and it's still standing.

-The circular aspects of
the buildings, Plato said
everything was rounded,

they built pillars,
he calls them pillars.

SIMCHA: But these round
structures, were they
for living in temples,

what were they for?

-The original story
was that Poseidon, of
course which is a god,

married a woman and in
order to protect her,
he built a pillar.

-A tower,
like this one.

-Yeah, exactly.

SIMCHA: But what about the
rest of Plato's descriptions?

Does the Island of
Sardinia match what we
know about Atlantis?

To find out, we travel to the
southern end of the island.

-Well here we are at Nora.

This is a very significant
place on Sardinia.

Plato specifically said
that Atlantis was destroyed
by earthquakes and flooding.

Sardinia is a place that
has frequent flooding
and in the ocean,

just south of Sardinia is
a major fault, so here at
Nora there's evidence of

destruction from earthquakes
and flooding, and there
are ruins both on the land,

but also below the sea.

So, this is a very special
place and it gives strong
evidence that there's a

connection between Sardinia
and what Plato said about
the destruction of Atlantis.

SIMCHA: Sardinia also
has two other important
characteristics that match

Plato's descriptions: the
rocks around the island
have three colors, black,

white and red, and
there are hot and cold
springs everywhere.

Robert has me wondering, are
these the temples of Atlantis?

He believes that they
are and he takes me to one
of the most impressive,

Su Nuraxi, wow.

-We're in the largest complex
that they have found to date.

This is a complex
of five towers.

You have the center tower and
then you have the four outer
towers that match the compass

north, south, east and west.

-And until recently,
very recently, nobody
knew it was here.

-Well it was covered
with mud, completely.

Imagine the height of this
and completely buried by mud.

-I can almost
imagine the people coming
out of these corridors.

What are they like?

-We have found
figurines of warriors
here, and you can, uh,

tell by the fact that this
place is so enclosed and
protected, more than likely,

this was the upper class
and the warrior class.

SIMCHA: But if this
is Atlantis, where's the
fabled temple to Poseidon?

Look, right there.

-We have got to go there.

SIMCHA: To our
amazement, Plato provides
the co-ordinates.

SIMCHA: To my surprise,
Sardinia's geography,
geology and archaeology seem

to match Plato's
descriptions of Atlantis.

Oh my God,

if ever there was an
Atlantean house this is it,

I mean this is
what Plato describes,

I don't know
if it's Atlantis but it's
certainly architecture that

matches the architecture
that Plato describes in
Atlantis, amazing.

So I decide to investigate
one more aspect of the story.

Plato describes a mountain in
the middle of the island that
stands in the center of a

beautiful plain.

On top of it, he says
that Poseidon built the very
first structure on Atlantis.

Is there anything
like this on Sardinia?

-Okay, this is the
Campidano Plain right here.

-Okay is there a mountain?

-Yeah, look, look right there.
Right there.

-There's a Nuraghe, a tower.
-On top of the mountain.

(laughs).

Santa Vittoria.

-Let's check it out.

-We have got to go there.
-This is crazy.
-Yeah, it is.

SIMCHA: It's located in what
used to be, in ancient times,
the middle of the island,

before the southern part
was covered by the sea.

We go there and discover
a perfect fit with Plato.

I can't believe it, we used
Plato as a treasure map.

It said, "You'll
find a little mountain,
you'll find a beautiful view,

a fertile valley, a plain,
ancient ruins."

-Well, not only did we find
ruins but we found ruins that
are more likely the earliest

if not the very first
tower that was built.

SIMCHA: Next to it, there's
a temple dedicated to a
water deity, maybe Poseidon.

In ancient times, it was
surrounded by a moat.

So, what, what are
we saying here?

What are you saying here?

This is Atlantis?

-I'm saying that if you take
the description given by Plato
of all the different things

about Atlantis,
the geography, the island
itself, the civilization,

there is no other place
on this Earth that fits
it better than Sardinia.

SIMCHA: I'm beginning to think
that Robert might be right.

JAMES (over computer):
Hey, Simcha, what's happening?

SIMCHA: What's happening
is I think I found it.

I know this sounds crazy
but Sardinia, I think
Sardinia is Atlantis.

JAMES (over computer):
Okay, let's hear the case.

SIMCHA: You know, it fits
exactly like Plato describes.

The technology is amazing,
and you find that circular
motif everywhere in Sardinia.

In the center of the island,
sure enough, you have a temple
to a water deity that sure

looks and smells and
sounds like Poseidon, and
it's a war-like people.

JAMES (over computer):
All right, so, so you're
ticking some boxes but

I'm not convinced
that just because

these buildings are
round that that necessarily
translates to the kind of

concentric city plan

and as I understand it,
that concentric city plan
actually incorporated a harbor,

and the grand Nuraghe
that you explored is
much more inland.

It's very far from the coast.

SIMCHA: Yes, but all that
very beautiful farmland today
was once underwater so I could

imagine in the special
effects in my mind that, that
it was surrounded by water,

at least the
temple of Poseidon.

JAMES (over computer):
But in any case,

the timing doesn't really
add up because the

Nuraghic civilization
emerged after the eruption.

SIMCHA: You're right.

That doesn't fit because it
actually, Santorini doesn't
destroy Sardinian culture.

It almost gives rise to it.

JAMES (over computer): So
maybe these were displaced
people that were refugees.

SIMCHA: Could it be that
what we're seeing in Sardinia
is a, a new Atlantis?

JAMES (over computer):
Yeah, I can imagine that.

So you need to be
looking for Nuraghes or
similar architectural

motifs in other places.

SIMCHA: Still further west.

JAMES (over computer):
Keep going west!

SIMCHA: Jim says go west.

There's only one
candidate left.

Past the Strait of Gibraltar,
Southern Spain where there are
others who think that there

could have been
Atlantean refugees.

Author Georgeos Diaz-Montexano
has been researching this area

for years and he's convinced
that some Atlantean refugees
fled inland and built shrines to

memorialize their lost city.

Deciphering the shrines would
help Georgeos prove his theory.

GEORGEOS: You can see around
three inscribed boats here.

With about eight
to twelve oars each.

SIMCHA: According to Georgeos,

the epic of Atlantis is
recorded in a series of
Stone Age petroglyphs,

images inscribed in
stone, telling the story
of a drowned city,

a legendary port, and ships
that once sailed the Atlantic.

-I think that we shoot here.

KEN: But see, that's gonna
mean the camera's gonna be.

-It's gonna be up there.

SIMCHA: To test his theory,
Georgeos enlists the help
of Engineer Ken Boydston and

Professor Gregory Heyworth,

experts in
forensic photography
and spectral imaging,

bringing lost
images back to life.

GEORGEOS: People
who think Atlantis
research isn't serious.

Haven't looked at
the matter seriously.

I believe in an
honest search for truth.

Let the facts
fall where they may.

-Ready, shoot.
-Shooting.

-I'm using the strobe as a
raking light, which will bring
out the shadows and the depth

of the incisions in the rock.

-Oh, yeah, this is a horse
with a long flowing mane.

-Shoot.
-Shooting.

-I'm looking closely
at the screen and I
like what I'm seeing.

I can the hoof
much more clearly.

I'm looking for signs of a
horseshoe, which has a lip at
the end and I see no signs of

a horseshoe at all, which
means it's pre-Roman.

-That would be pre-Roman.

Oh, oh, here we go.

Okay, yeah, yeah.
There's a bunch of stuff here.

SIMCHA: The investigators see
wide moat-like circles that
surround the entire scene.

-I see a bunch of
concentric circles and
in the middle of this,

there's some roughly
parallel straight lines.

SIMCHA: Concentric,
moat-like circles are
exactly what Plato

reports when
describing Atlantis.

-What's that line
right above the horse?

-Well, that's a long
wavy line, and actually
there's a couple of them.

There's one there,
one, a further one up.

Could they be mountains, could
they be waves, could be water.

Horse could be under water.

-Could be.
-Could be.

SIMCHA: The horse
is tilted downwards.

If it's under water that could
mean it's drowning and it
seems that it's not the only

figure beneath the
apparent line of water.

-That looks like a boat.

That looks like a boat up
in the right-hand corner.

Zoom in a bit, Ken.

-This one here looks
like maybe the hull.

That could be the
hull of a boat.

-Yeah, yeah.

-And if that's the hull of the
boat, that boat's underwater.

SIMCHA: While the team
continues their work, I
join Georgeos in

Badajoz, southern Spain.

I've heard of his work
and I'm anxious to see
some mysterious finds in

this little known museum.

GEORGEOS: This is important.
These bull warriors...

Have horns sprouting
from their heads,
not from their helmets.

SIMCHA: In Plato,
bulls are associated to
the religion of Atlantis.

These inscriptions
are incredible:
warriors, chariots,

and an un-deciphered
script known as Tartessan.

Can this be the lost
language of Atlantis?

Georgeos was saving
the best for last.

GEORGEOS: Look at this.

SIMCHA: Oh my God.

GEORGEOS: Three concentric
circles and a canal that goes
in and a dot in the center.

Which symbolically
may represent the
temple of Poseidon!

-So this is
a symbol of Atlantis.

-Atlantis.

SIMCHA: These concentric
circles remind me of the
architecture I saw in Sardinia.

Can it be that southern
Spain was the mother country
and these soldiers once stood

guard at Atlantis?

What you're saying is that we
have the entire story, we have
Plato here, carved in stone.

The concentric circles, the
canal that goes right through,
the temple of Poseidon right

over here, the warriors,
because it was a war-like
society that tried to dominate

the Mediterranean.

You have a high technology.

Chariots are a
high technology.

When you put
all this together,

you're telling
me the entire story
is carved in stone here.

What you're saying is
that we have a bible
of the Atlanteans.

Georgeos now leads me to
another site in the area.

He thinks he's identified
an Atlantean city.

The cement squares are
modern, the archaeology
below is ancient.

It's a massive Copper Age
site and strangely, it has
hardly been reported to the

scientific community.

It looks remarkably
like Plato's Atlantis.

I'm standing in Jaen,
a 5,000-year-old city
that was recently found.

They discovered that it's
one kilometer in diameter.

40,000 people lived
here 5,000 years ago
and the architecture,

their architecture
is remarkable.

Concentric circles,
canals, individual homes
with a round architecture.

The reason you haven't heard
about it is because the
developers got hold of it.

They built on top of it and
even where I'm standing is
soon not going to be here.

Jaen was a large city.

60,000 items were found here.

By Copper Age standards,
it had a huge population that
lived here when Atlantis would

have been at its height.

I meet one of the
archaeologists in charge
of the site, Estella Perez.

ESTELLA: The structure of the
city starts from a zero point.

And then a series of
concentric circles were built
from that zero point.

With moats and linked walls,
up to five.

So the city grew
from a central point
in a circular shape.

SIMCHA: So why did the
inhabitants of ancient Jaen
build these concentric

moats of water and
land in an arid area?

Georgeos believes that Jaen is
a sister city to Atlantis that
was built with the same type

of architecture in mind.

I know looking at this rubble
it may be very hard to imagine
that this place should be as

famous as the pyramids,
so let me try to help you.

Let's bring ancient
Jaen back to life.

♪ ♪

SIMCHA: In the
Strait of Gibraltar,
Professor Freund

and his divers continue their
underwater search for Atlantis.

♪ ♪

(inaudible radio).

-So a lot of sand, flat
sand, featureless sand.

No obvious rocks.

No, not what we wanted, man.

SIMCHA: As they relocate
to a deeper site, Freund
decides to bring out

the heavy guns, the ROV.

-What we're gonna do is
take these cameras off
and put this block on.

MARYANN: I think
we're ready to go.

SIMCHA: The ROV is
lightweight, but carries
a big visual punch.

It can go deeper than the
divers and stays longer below.

It carries four 4K
cameras and transmits
images to the surface.

If Atlantis is in
these waters, these
cameras will find it.

MIKE: Bridge control.

MAN (over radio): Well, hi
there, this is bridge.

-Yeah, bridge, ROV's
just tracking due north.

I'm only a meter off
the bottom and I can't
really see anything.

We just have to crawl
along try to keep
a constant heading.

SIMCHA: They're deeper than
the last dive in the same area
where they were looking for

the debris field.

-So this is why
searching takes so long.

It can take days, weeks,
months because you just
kind of crawl along.

There's not a lot of
visibility until you,
you find something.

SIMCHA: Despite their efforts,
the operators don't make
any significant discovery.

-The sea is very great, and
you have to have patience.

SIMCHA: Meanwhile, some
25 miles inland, Georgeos
takes us to what he believes

is a shrine built by
Atlantean refugees.

Images of ships and ports
at this remote location would
support his idea that at some

point, the real Atlantis
was transformed into myth.

GEORGEOS: I believe that this
is the most important cave.

With rock art, discovered in
the Iberian Peninsula.

Perhaps in the
whole of the West.

Here you have a harbor scene
with boats...

That look as if they are
entering and leaving.

There are seven
different boat designs.

This is what made me think.

Of that famous passage in
Plato in which he states.

That the port of
Atlantis was very important.

Because boats from
all nations came there.

SIMCHA: The spectral
imaging experts cover
the cave's entrance

and begin their work.

They use special cameras
that utilize 16 different
wavelengths of light invisible

to the human eye so as to
capture detailed images
of the inscriptions.

-Our job here is to
try to make these very faint
images as clear as possible,

perhaps discovering new
symbols, which are not
even faintly visible

to the naked eye.

We're moving through
the spectrum from violet up
through infrared for a total

of 26 shots.

-I see the lines that we
could barely see before.

Oh, I see the boat,
I see the oars.

-There is some, yes.

SIMCHA: With regular
light waves visible
to the human eye,

the image of a boat in what
appears to be a square harbor
is faded and indistinct but

when photographing with
special multi-spectral light,
new details suddenly emerge.

-We're seeing something
very interesting.

It just occurred
to me what this is.

This is a
three-dimensional image.

We can see inside the boat,
and these are the ribs of
the keel itself that go down.

The artist is sophisticated
enough to actually show
this in three dimensions.

SIMCHA: New data
becomes available on
the other boat as well.

-So what you can see from this
picture is really interesting.

We expected the oars,
and those are oval and curved,
but we didn't expect to see is

that this what we thought
might be another oar isn't.

It's actually a rudder
or starboard, and you
can tell because look.

See how it's squared off here?

Yeah, it's very different
from the oars, yeah, and
it's coming out the back.

This tells us a couple
interesting things.

First of all, because the
rudder's over here, the boat
is going in this direction,

away from the harbor,
which was over here.

SIMCHA: Suddenly, they
discover an image that
was totally invisible

to the naked eye.

-When we were processing this
area, something that came out
that we didn't expect and this

is what we saw.

-Wow.
-There is in fact
another figure.

This clearly looks more like
a tail, and this is like ears.

We can see that this much more
like a horse and a rider, who
has some kind perhaps even a

helmet on it, which has
a plume on top, a feather on
top or some kind of ornament.

SIMCHA: Next to the rider,
is another square that the
scientists identify as a port

with concentric circles.

It appears as though the rider
is fleeing from the port.

Whoever made these drawings
high in the mountains was
not recording boats, ports,

and fleeing horsemen
that were nearby.

They were recounting stories
of events that occurred
somewhere along the coast far

away from here.

You've got me shaken up.

I can tell you that.

I'm beginning to think that
Georgeos is right and this
is how Atlantis was

transformed into legend.

We're now joined
by Professor Freund.

Having little luck finding
an underwater debris field,
he decides to takes us to a

unique coastal location
in southern Spain where he
believes Atlantis once stood.

-We're in the Doñana
Park, one of the largest
marshes in all of Europe.

Hundreds of square
kilometers of just
marsh, but in Antiquity,

this was an open bay, an open
bay that ships could come
in all the way up to Seville.

In 11 locations
we did carbon dating that
goes down to 13 meters below

the surface where
there's an even layer

of methane which would indicate
that some catastrophic event

happened suddenly that
sealed all those organisms,
all those living beings

into one methane layer.

4,000 BCE, 6,000 years ago,
there were people living
here and then suddenly,

they were not.

SIMCHA: We drive for hours
across the strange and unique
landscape of Doñana,

for hundreds of miles, it
shifts between vegetation,
beach, and sand.

Geologically,
it's clear that something
extraordinary happened here.

After several hours, we
arrive at our destination.

Professor Freund takes
me to the spot he calls the
archaeological smoking gun.

♪ ♪

It doesn't look
like much, Richard.

-You know sometimes big
things come in small packages.

-Yeah, it's, I've seen
castles and I've seen temples,
and now I'm seeing a hole in

the ground.

Tell me why you think
this is significant.

-This is the last
vestiges of Atlantis.

It is from the time
period in which Atlantis, a
massive stone city, existed.

-You're telling
me this rock, this stone,
that's the treasure.

-It's not indigenous
to this place.

It's very, very different
than any of the other stones.

It's not sand, it's not mud.

When I look at this and I see
all the marine debris that's
actually embedded into the

rock surface, you can see
that this is a rock that
was not part of this area,

and because it is so high
up, I mean, we still are
in the midst of the swamp,

we think that a massive
tsunami brought this stone
in thousands of years ago and

deposited it here.

In criminal investigations,
you follow the money.

In archaeology, you
follow the stones.

SIMCHA: Professor Freund is
not the first academic
to come to this area.

In the 1920s, two
legendary archaeologists,
Bonsor and Schulten,

claimed that Doñana
was once home to another
lost city, Tartessos.

Like Atlantis, Tartessos was
a harbor city located beyond
the Pillars of Hercules,

famous for its
metals and ships.

It too mysteriously
disappeared from history.

Could it be that what
Plato called Atlantis, the
Atlanteans called Tartessos?

Georgeos presents
us with a rare document,
an ancient Egyptian map.

GEORGEOS: Look here.

This is one of the most
ancient maps of Ptolemy.

-This is a map of Ptolemy?

GEORGEOS: Exactly.
A Byzantine copy of
Ptolemy's map.

-So it's a Byzantine
copy of a 2nd century
map, 1,800 years old.

GEORGEOS: Correct.

SIMCHA: This map provides
us with an ancient perspective
on the Mediterranean,

Strait of Gibraltar,
the Atlantic, and the
coast of southern Spain.

-How did you find this map?

GEORGEOS: It is kept in the
British Museum.

-Why are you showing us this?

GEORGEOS: Look here.

-Tartessos.

GEORGEOS: Tartessos

-But look, not
only does it say Tartessos,
but it places Tartessos

in a very specific place,
and it actually has a, an
illumination, an illustration

of what the
city looked like and how
it's facing the water.

GEORGEOS: With a symbol
of a fortified city.

In the same spot where we are
right now, exactly.

Exactly here.

-Right here where we are,
I mean, that's a.

-This is crazy.
Has anybody noticed
this before?

GEORGEOS: Nobody but me.

-It's right there.

-Yeah.
-Been hiding in plain sight.
-Yeah.

-We can, we can
go right there, look
beneath the water.

Now that we've identified a
new target area to dive, will
we find the lost city at last?

DIVER (over radio): Whoa,
oh, this is something.

SIMCHA: With our new
coordinates in hand.

How's it going, guys?

On the Atlantic Explorer just
off the coast of Doñana,
we're looking for evidence of

a debris field attesting to
the destruction of Atlantis.

-I'm hoping.
-We're in the right place.
-We're in the right place.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

SIMCHA: Today, the visibility
is very good, but there seems
to be nothing down there.

Time after time, the
divers come back empty.

DR. PEDERSEN: No fish, no
wave, not even a beer can.

I mean, it's just barren.

SIMCHA: The day's
nearing its end.

After spending hours
under water, the
divers are exhausted.

They decide to
pack up their gear.

-I think we need to
increase the area where we
are searching and I hope

tomorrow's gonna
be a better day.

SIMCHA: Ever the
optimist, Professor Freund
doesn't get discouraged.

-So today was not a good
day, but that doesn't mean
that tomorrow there won't

be a major discovery.

SIMCHA: As the ship
steers back to port,

something peculiar
pops up on the screens.

It looks circular
and man-made.

We have a hard choice to make.

Even though the
divers are very experienced,
Professor Freund is concerned

that they're too tired
to make another descent, but
Eduardo and his diving team

are worried that by tomorrow,
the weather won't cooperate.

They decide to go for it.

♪ ♪

DIVER (over radio):
Oh, my God, take a look
at those giant discs.

DIVER (over radio):
These discs must be man-made,
there's no question about it.

DIVER (over radio): Ancient
for sure, but what are they?

DIVER (over radio):
I have no idea, mate.

SIMCHA: Professor Freund
believes that these circular
discs are part of the

debris field that
he's been looking for.

He thinks that these are the
sectional remains of columns.

Dr. Ralph Pedersen, the
marine archaeologist on board
believes that they're looking

at millstones, which may date
to the Roman Age, much later
than any possible Atlantis.

It all depends on what's
in the center of the discs.

Are the holes square
as in columns or round
as in millstones?

-Now the thing is with column
drums, they're generally
thicker and they would cut a

square in the bottom of it,
put in a wooden tenant, okay,
and then mount the other one

on top of that and
that's how they would
build their columns.

The reason why is they
were square is so that they
wouldn't rotate over time.

-Rotate, but the question
is, is that a round hole
or is that a square hole?

-It might be square,
it might not.

-They're almost one
on top of the other.

-The fact that these are one
on top of each other doesn't

necessarily mean
it's architectural.

I mean, it could
be a ship's cargo.

When you put things on a
ship you're stacking them up,
particularly if they're flat,

and as a ship settles to the
bottom, you're gonna have
still things remaining in

their stacked positions.

-This doesn't
look round at all.

This looks like it's a square.

-Maybe.

I'll give you a
maybe on that one.

SIMCHA: For the divers,
maybe is good enough.

After days of coming up
empty, they finally have found
ancient objects that once

maybe adorned Atlantis.

-They were much bigger than,
than what I anticipated.

About a meter and
half across maybe.

Really solid, sort of
like this thickness.

It's definitely not
modern times, you know,
you can say that for sure.

In the true sense of
exploration, we had a,

we had a find,
and it was completely,
completely by chance.

SIMCHA: Georgeos agrees
with Freund that what
they found are columns.

He believes that they
once adorned a temple.

The stones remind him
of underwater video footage
filmed nearby that has been in

his possession for years.

It's very not clear.

JUAN: It's not clear.
It's an old video,
but if you focus on it.

SIMCHA: Oh,
wow, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

This looks like a huge
structure over here.

JUAN: Yeah, sure.

-Are these steps?

SIMCHA: Oh, my God, this is very
good, this is a staircase.

-It's clear that
this not natural.

This is something
that was man-made.

SIMCHA: Who shot this?

GEORGEOS: This video was shot
by Francisco Salazar in 1993.

He was a master diver and was
known as "El Pantera".

-This guy was a legend here?

GEORGEOS: A legend.
One of the most important
master divers in Cadiz.

-He, he, he, he's, is he alive?
-No, he's not alive.

GEORGEOS: He died in 1998.

SIMCHA: It's very bad
quality but it's very clear.

It looks like a bunch of
broken huge stones from
a megalithic structure.

JUAN: And you have a
wall just in front of it.

SIMCHA: A wall and it looks
like a, this is crazy, a wall.

-A circular wall.
Yeah, that's right.

-Circular wall.

It looks like a
tower of some kind.

SIMCHA: You know
what it looks like?
It looks like a Nuraghi.

-It is incredible.
-Where is this?

GEORGEOS: The information
that Pantera gave,

was that it was between
Barbate and Zahara de los
Atunes at 35 meters deep.

SIMCHA: Is there any way
to try to locate that site?

JUAN: Well, yes, I,
I think so. We know
where we have to search.

SIMCHA: We
got to find this.

We just got to find it.

We now head to where
Georgeos believes we'll
find Pantera's dive site.

It's a patch of water barely
five miles long, only 10
miles from where we found

the underwater discs.

Armed with a 3D sonar,
we're all optimistic that a
discovery will soon be made.

To my surprise, we're smack
dab in the middle of a drug
trafficking zone and we're now

diving under the watchful
eye of the Spanish Navy.

The Atlantic Explorer
scours the search area,
going back and forth,

creating a well-defined
map of the ocean floor.

While we wait to identify a
specific target, I decide to
call James Cameron to update

him on the latest
developments.

Hey, Jim!

JAMES (over computer):
What's up, buddy?

Where are you guys right now?

YARON: Southern Spain.

JAMES (over computer):
Going outside the
Pillars of Hercules now.

SIMCHA: That's right.
It's been going pretty good.

The first site we identified,
they found this debris field.

It could be pieces of columns
or maybe they're millstones

and then there's a
new thing that came up, okay?

This legendary diver in these
parts that they nicknamed
The Panther, El Pantera,

and El Pantera shot this
video footage on VHS, I think.

When I got images of
it at the beginning I
thought this is a joke.

There's nothing but when I
watched the still frame grabs,
it looks like an underwater

Nuraghi, like one of
these Sardinia type.

Like, it's big.

It's got pillars.

It's got.

-Steps.

SIMCHA: Steps.
It's got circles.

-Circles.

SIMCHA: It's the Hollywood
version of Atlantis and it's
supposed to be right here

where we are.

JAMES (over computer):
Do you have good
coordinates on it?

-It's 35 meters deep,
between Barbate and
Zahara de los Atunes.

SIMCHA: This is a
very sandy area.

If you had, like, a
submerged temple fully
exposed, it would,

it would stand out to sonar.

We'll go up and down the
grid and we'll, we'll
find Atlantis, you know.

JAMES (over computer):
This sounds too good
to be true.

I'm not going to be
up all night, you know,
hoping on this, but, uh,

let's see what happens.

I think you gotta play
out the lead for sure.

Alright guys, great.

I wish I was there on the
ship with you right now.

SIMCHA: In the meantime,
Pantera's coordinates
are not panning out.

JUAN: Hello.
Anything interesting?

Anything that you
have marked? Over.

We are on our path
and so far nothing,
we continue searching.

The bottom is flat
and so far that's pretty
much what we have.

There is something there.

Very big, very big!

SIMCHA: They see an anomaly.

Something rising
from the bottom.

Could this be the
structure found by Pantera?

JOSE: This is the place.

BILL: This is it?
This is all fish.

JOSE: It's all fish but the
fish may be inside a structure.

We have a sandy
bottom and then suddenly a
small structure, you know?

And then a lot of fish.

BILL: Alright, I'll
go tell the divers.

JOSE: Jump from the side, no?
RICHARD: Just like old times.
Fantastic.

DIVER (over radio): I
could barely see anything.

DIVER (over radio):
It was just, the "vis"
is not very good.

SIMCHA: Floating just
above them, I'm in radio
contact with the divers.

What's happening now guys,
what's happening now?

DIVER (over radio):
The water is very murky.

SIMCHA: Practically blinded,
they follow the anchor
line down to the bottom.

Amazingly, the anchor
leads them right on target.

DIVER (over radio):
Wow, this is amazing.

SIMCHA: What are you seeing?

DIVER (over radio):
There are huge
boulders down here.

They just, just seem odd.

SIMCHA: Are these
the megalithic stones
from Pantera's video?

DIVER (over radio): I can't
tell if these are man-made.

SIMCHA: The divers disperse
and find scattered rocks.

DIVER (over radio):
These might be discs that have
been over grown with algae.

SIMCHA: From certain
angles they seem man-made,
but it's hard to tell.

Can you look around
in the context, the
archaeological context,

can you see any wreckage?

Any, anything?

JUAN: We see a row of rocks.

In my opinion it's very
unlikely that they are a
natural formation,

because they seem
scattered on the sand.

Specifically, I see
one rock that's almost
perfectly semi-circular.

-I think this is,
this is great.

DIVER (over radio):
Current is undoubtedly
picking up, and the swell,

and the surge makes
this dive quite challenging.

SIMCHA: They need to surface.

-Definitely more interesting.

Lots of rocks, in quite
almost an unnatural
shape, but of course,

your imagination starts
to, kind of, uh, help a little
bit and I'd really like to get

some feedback from Ralph,
because you know when your
40 meters down and your mind

wants you to find something
of interest, it's very easy
to start to imagine things.

So it'd be good to have
a cold analytical, uh,
view on what we found.

-Uh, the current is going
down so I think, uh, the ROV
could, could go on itself.

SIMCHA: In an attempt
to get answers, Bill and the
operators navigate the ROV to

the dive site and analyze
the incoming images.

-Visibility is about
a meter and a half.

-It's whether they're
man made, or geological,
we don't really know.

-That's a big structure,
whatever that is.

-Wow, whoa.

SIMCHA: They call Ralph,
the marine archaeologist,
for further analysis.

-What is it?

SIMCHA: After several
hours, Ralph can't
come to a conclusion.

The degradation process on
the rocks has taken its toll.

He can't determine if
they're natural or man-made.

If this was once
Pantera's temple, only an
underwater excavation

can establish that now.

The divers continue the
search but no alternative
site presents itself.

Time starts running
out on this expedition it's
pretty, uh, tense situation,

and if we don't find
something here then
we're gonna have to just

change to another location.

Reports on harsh weather
force the captain
to return to shore.

We must temporarily
abandon the search,

not realizing that
our luck is about to change.

SIMCHA: The Atlantic Explorer
is moored in port waiting
for the sea to calm down.

The crew uses this
opportunity for inventory
and maintenance.

I'm thinking, if southern
Spain is the original home of
Atlantis and Sardinia was an

Atlantean colony, why is
there no archaeology here

that matches the
archaeology there?

Georgeos thinks he's
identified the missing
link, a recently excavated

4,000-year-old
Sardinian style temple.

This is in the middle of
nowhere and it was in the
middle of nowhere in the

Bronze Age, too.

There's no cities
around here and they did
find Bronze Age burials.

We're talking about 1,800
BC and look over here, a
moat, surrounded by water,

concentric circles built
700 years before the
Nuraghes of Sardinia,

I'm astounded to see so many
features of Sardinian culture
in this Spanish temple.

It's like a maze.

You come up to this place, it
doesn't look like much, it's a
mini version of what we saw in

Sardinia, but look how
complex it is, and you
can see the themes.

The moat, the concentric
circles, you can't
say this is a metaphor,

this is Atlantean architecture
as described by Plato.

You have the compass points
and in the middle, right
over here, you have a deep,

deep well.

Can it be that some kind
of water divinity is being
worshipped, Poseidon,

and look where it's situated.

Once again, we see the
same theme described by
Plato, it's in the middle

of a fertile plateau.

This is not a city, it's not
a house, it's not a castle.

It's a temple, it's a
place where people worship.

♪ ♪

Wow, being here, I feel
like I'm inside a clockwork.

This is so precise,
look at the way the
ramps lead you around.

Look at the ramps of
these towers, it's literally
breathtaking and it's all the

more breathtaking
because it's unexpected.

It looks like this tiny little
structure that just looked
like a mound until it was

excavated some 30 years
ago and it's very hard
to date these things,

but monks get
buried in their monasteries

and right over here
archaeologists discovered

and left in situ
an ancient burial.

So is this ground zero
for an Atlantean culture,
that later spread all

the way to Sardinia?

Did Pantera find a temple
like this one underwater?

I get word that the
weather has cleared up,
but on the way back,

Georgeos has one
more archaeological
ace up his sleeve.

High in the mountains,
next to engraved concentric
stone age circles,

Georgeos has a particular
image that he wants me to see.

GEORGEOS: What do you see here?

SIMCHA: I can't believe this,
I see the biblical menorah.

GEORGEOS: A Menorah!

Concentric circles, Menorah!

SIMCHA: You're saying
the biblical menorah that was
in the temple in Jerusalem

that's in the book
of Exodus, is an evolution
of the Atlantean symbol

of the concentric circles?

GEORGEOS: I am convinced.

-The menorah is somehow
memorializing a symbol
that meant something for

thousands of years.

GEORGEOS: The symbol of
the city of Atlantis, cut
in half, it's the Menorah.

SIMCHA: Suddenly,
I remember images of
the menorah that I saw in

1,600-year-old Jewish
burials in Malta.

They looked exactly like
Georgeos's symbol, complete
with a central pole that was

shaped like
Poseidon's trident.

This is kind of mind-blowing,
because you're saying that
there's an echo of Atlantean

theology in the Bible itself.

GEORGEOS: You got it, Simcha.

SIMCHA: According
to Georgeos, it's
from shrines like this one

that Atlantean refugees
spread their symbols to
the rest of the world.

Back on the boat, we're
ready to resume diving.

-The Doñana Park
is ground zero.

I think this is where
the original ancient
mother city, port,

island of Atlantis
was located.

The question is,
what do you do next?

SIMCHA: Clearly,
we have a problem.

If the port of Atlantis
is buried deep beneath the
mud flats of Doñana,

then it's simply inaccessible
to us, but I have an idea.

In Laja Alta there were
two squares depicted
on the cave wall.

If the square with the
concentric circles depicts
the port of Atlantis,

then maybe the square
with the ship represents
something else,

some kind of holding area or
anchorage out at sea, where
ships waited for entry into

the fabled port.

If such a holding area
existed, then the most logical
place for it would be near the

closest island to the Strait
of Gibraltar, Sancti Petri.

I share my hunch
with the team.

It's a long shot, but
we have no other leads.

So we make our way
to the target area.

I see something.
It's pretty straight

GEORGEOS: Looks like a
sequence of blocks.

Seems to be a
breakwater, a dock.

SIMCHA: And this area here
could be a holding area.

GEORGEOS: I hope
that we will find hard
archaeological evidence

of the existence of a
really ancient civilization

that can be
connected with Atlantis.

SIMCHA: Captain Jose Maria
positions the ship.

Tensions run high.

-Good to go.

SIMCHA: But what
do we look for, ships?

Wood rots over
thousands of years but
breakwaters, jetties,

and stone anchors don't.

DIVER (over radio):
Are these docks?

DIVER (over radio): Maybe
they're breakwaters.

♪ ♪

SIMCHA: And then, finally,

a huge,
ancient stone anchor.

Even Ralph,
the ever-skeptical marine
archaeologist is excited.

-It's about this big,
it's, uh, 83 centimeters
across and it's, uh,

about this thick and it's
smooth on both sides, got a
nice hole in it and, um, yeah,

we were quite, quite
surprised to see that.

SIMCHA: After
weeks of fruitless searching,
everyone's excited when Ralph

determines that the anchor
could date to the Bronze Age.

It fits the Atlantis timeline.

These are stills?

-These are stills, yeah.

-It's really an amazing find.

I mean, a lot of people
who get excited about
anchors, but this anchor,

you should get
very excited about.

This is a
3,000-4,000-year-old anchor
that is massive for a very,

very large boat that
shows us that ancient,

large boats were
sailing into this area

4,000 years ago.

SIMCHA: It's widely believed
that mankind did not sail into
the Atlantic Ocean before the

8th Century BC.

According to this idea, all
fishing and trading routes in
this area were confined to the

Mediterranean Sea.

This anchor tells
a different story.

We're on the Atlantic side.

Who has seen stone anchors
on this side of the ocean?

-This is a place that
hasn't been explored.

So here we are, we're
doing this stuff for the
first time really, right,

and we're finding stuff.

SIMCHA: We're
pushing the envelope.

-We are pushing the envelope.

-I wasn't, you know,
very confident about
these dive sites,

but now I feel that
the hope is going on.

SIMCHA: But a single
stone anchor could
be just an anomaly,

evidence of an ancient
boat that went off course.

We need more artifacts to
support the idea that
there once was a

great holding area here.

♪ ♪

Edoardo, can you hear me?

Edoardo (over radio): Uhh.

SIMCHA: What trouble
are you having?

Edoardo (over radio): The
current is serious, I wouldn't
even just reflect the current,

but a huge swell is
beating us on the bottom.

This current is so strong due
to the flatness of the site.

Whoa, this is something,

this is a
great one, incredible!

I've never seen
anything like that.

SIMCHA: What are you seeing?

Edoardo (over radio):
I just found a, a square
anchor, which is incredible.

It's undoubtedly hand-made.

It has a hole in the middle of
it about the size of a fist.

That's what we
were looking for.

Well, I'll tell you guys,
it's something unbelievable.

I'm moving very
close to another anchor,

undoubtedly for this area,

it's an incredible find.

Certainly is not a
common object, not even
in the Mediterranean,

and we are in the Atlantic.

SIMCHA: That's
absolutely awesome.

That's unbelievable.

Edoardo (over radio):
What a find, what a catch.

Miguel is leading us with
his reel, but undoubtedly,
he is struggling very much.

It's definitely very
serious currents.

SIMCHA: How many
anchors do you see?

Edoardo (over radio): I'm
approaching now the 3rd
one which has an oval shape

and its maximum
extension is probably 70,
75 or 80 centimeters long

and it looks
really in perfect shape.

SIMCHA: This could be 3,500
years old, could be 4,000
years old and it establishes a

harbor right here, where, you
know, I didn't even dare dream
to find anchors because it's

easier to find a needle in
a haystack than three Bronze
Age anchors in the Atlantic.

DIVER (Over radio):
This means something,
we are on the right track.

SIMCHA: We've now discovered
a total of four Bronze Age
anchors on the Atlantean side

of Spain, but our divers
are not finished, an hour
later they find a fifth,

triangle shaped anchor.

Edoardo (over radio):
That, that's amazing.

I really mean it,
that's amazing.

SIMCHA: And shortly
after, anchor number six.

I felt it, I felt good today.

DINGHY: I told
you we will do it.

SIMCHA: You guys are awesome.

DIVER (Over radio):
I tell you, I'm so
proud to be here.

-You guys
are making history!

The implications of this
find are mind-boggling.

Our team found evidence of
a holding area exactly where
we predicted it would be.

Was it great?

-That was great, Simcha.
-Yeah?

-I really feel that we have
done something serious.

Thanks mate that
was very good.

GEORGEOS: It's amazing.
I had a theory, but you
guys found them.

It's been thrilling,
really thrilling.

This is the most important
moment of my life.

SIMCHA: If the anchorage
of Atlantis was
out here, then maybe,

just as Professor Freund
theorizes, Atlantis is waiting
to be found beneath the

mudflats of Doñana
and if the stone anchors
witness to large ships,

how far into the Atlantic
Ocean could they have gone?

Can we find evidence of their
travels halfway to America?

SIMCHA: Our team has found more
Bronze Age anchors on the
Atlantic side of Spain,

than anyone before.

If we found six in
a few dives, there must
be thousands out there,

confirming Plato's report
of a port just past
the Pillars of Hercules.

Plato also states that the
ships of Atlantis sailed
across the Atlantic,

stopping at isolated
islands en-route.

To test this claim, we once
again go west, all the way to
the Azores: Portuguese islands

located in the middle
of the Atlantic Ocean.

3,500 years before
Columbus, could Bronze Age
sailors have made it here,

almost a third of
the way to America?

It's a far-fetched idea.

When Portuguese explorers
first came to the Azores
some 500 years ago,

they claimed that these
islands had never been
inhabited, but recently,

Professor Felix Rodrigues, from
the University of the Azores,

has made some
incredible discoveries.

I can't believe what
we're looking at.

This shouldn't be here,
right, theoretically.

-Right.
-What is it?

FELIX: Probably a
columbarium at least Roman.

-The Romans used
it for burial,

they'd cremate the body,
they'd put urns and they'd put

it in this columbarium.

FELIX: Yes, it's a
burial place because
you have an oven there.

-There's an oven there?
-Yes.

FELIX: And could
explain this structure and
give some sense to this.

SIMCHA: I'm, I'm in shock
because it establishes
a culture here in very,

very ancient times, right?

Like, way before
anybody thought there
was anybody here.

FELIX: This is true.
This is amazing.

Ancient people comes to
the center of the Atlantic.

SIMCHA: Remarkably, people
here had customs
similar to those

practiced in the Mediterranean.

They lived on these
Atlantic islands 2,000
years ago, perhaps earlier.

Professor Rodrigues has
evidence that can push that
date to the Bronze Age,

or even before, to
the time of Atlantis.

Scattered across the
cornfields of the
Azores are massive,

pyramid-like structures.

These ancient buildings seem
to have been connected to each
other by an elaborate network

of tunnels, which are now
partially ruined, or blocked.

I'm standing in a cornfield
on Pico Island in the Azores,
half way between Europe

and the Americas.

Behind me you can
see an entrance to an ancient
structure that academics have

dubbed Neolithic.

That's Stone Age.

We're talking about thousands
of years ago when, really, no
one should have been

able to get here.

Now that is connected
somehow to this pyramid right
next door and the pyramid,

it looks like an ancient
ziggurat, it's like the
Biblical tower of Babel.

Maybe something Aztec
almost looking, people
don't know, because really,

no one has studied it.

Anybody looking at that
can see that there's
a pyramid over there,

and some kind of ancient
entrance blocked up.

An archaeological
treasure that hasn't
been fully excavated.

FELIX: This is a fantastic
structure made by dry stones.

SIMCHA: By dry stones
you mean no cement?

FELIX: No, no cement.

This is well planned and you
need a huge amount of dry
stone to build this building.

A partial excavation
was made inside the chamber
and it was found stone tools,

ancient stone tools.

That means this could
be from the Stone Age!

This is very weird for the
Azores position.

We need knowledge and
lots of people to build this.

SIMCHA: This is amazing.

Again, Stone Age
technology, we're talking
four, five, 6,000 years old.

The same technology that
we've seen from the Eastern
Mediterranean all the

way to the Azores.

Giant boulders stacked up
on each other holding for
thousands of years without

cement and this time we're
not in the Mediterranean,
it's part of some kind of

civilization that reached all
the way to the Atlantic

and there's even more
evidence of ancient
inhabitants on the island.

I trek with Professor Rodrigues
through a thick forest
to see a Stone Age village,

which contains megalithic
structures, very similar
to those I saw on Malta,

2,200 miles away!

FELIX: It's very slippery
guys, super slippery here.

SIMCHA: Professor Rodrigues
discovered this place in 2014.

Based on the stone tools found
here, he believes the village
may be 6,000 years old,

and yet, it's virtually
unknown to the academic world.

Professor Rodrigues has even
discovered a man-made cave
in this ancient settlement.

This is incredible.

This, out of the
megalithic structures
that we've seen, this is

the most sophisticated one.

Maybe it was someone's home,
maybe, you know, the chief,
but maybe, it was, uh,

some kind of holy place.

We may be in an
early, early shrine.

There's an outer section to
it, and an inner chamber,
which is kind of the inner

Holy of Holies as a shrine.

Outside the forest,
Professor Rodrigues shows me an
artifact that is totally out

of place on this modern farm.

It's a piece of archaeology,
which can radically redefine
our understanding

of Stone Age seafaring.

What is that?

FELIX: It's a Stone Age anchor.

SIMCHA: This is amazing
to find it here.

What's it doing
inside a fence?

FELIX: It's used as a
stone, a normal stone.

SIMCHA: The farmer was
just collecting?

FELIX: Yes, collecting from
here and put it in the wall.

SIMCHA: Uh, I got to tell you,
I can show you stuff like this
that we discovered underwater

in southern Spain.

In fact, this is much
bigger than what we shot.

Because we found ones,
kind of elliptical, half
that size with one hole.

This has two holes, it must
have been a giant boat.

FELIX: This is something huge!

SIMCHA: If there's
an anchor here,

and there's a stone
age village, it must
have been near,

near the harbor,
near the water.

FELIX: We have two
water lines, one on
each side of the hill,

little rivers that go
straight to the sea.

SIMCHA: You're re-writing
the history of human travel
in the Stone Age.

FELIX: This could help to
describe the ancient people
movement between different

spaces in the world.

SIMCHA: Professor Rodrigues
now shows me another
incredible discovery.

This is amazing,
these are cart ruts.

FELIX: Yes, this is cart ruts,
clearly cart ruts.

Similar to those one of Malta.

Comes from nowhere and goes to
somewhere in the sea.

In the middle of the island,
we have lots of cart ruts.

SIMCHA: All over the islands?

FELIX: All the islands,
except the smallest one.

SIMCHA: And they haven't
really been studied?

FELIX: None, none of them.

SIMCHA: When do you think
these cart ruts date to?

FELIX: From the
third millennium BC.

SIMCHA: 3rd millennium BC.
Wow.

You know when we started
this journey, cart ruts
didn't mean anything to me,

but then when
you see this technology,
sophisticated technology,

mysterious technology,
on all these islands:
Malta, Sardinia, Sicily,

now the Azores.

We're talking about Stone
Age people getting to all
these places creating this

technology, using it for a
long time, but nobody knows
why or how, it's amazing,

but one thing it does
do, it actually puts
people on this island,

and shows that people
could get here by boat
more than 4,000 years ago,

6,000 years ago maybe.

It now seems clear
to me that even before
the pyramids in Egypt,

there existed a Stone Age and
Bronze Age civilization, an
ancient long forgotten empire.

Its center seems to have been
in southern Spain, exactly
where Plato puts Atlantis.

I now believe that this
civilization shared a common
culture, architecture,

and great seafaring capability
as Plato's Atlantis.

This empire was most
probably destroyed in a
series of Santorini

related natural disasters.

It seems that Plato's
Atlantis is no mere myth.

Hey, Jim, we did it.

JAMES (over phone): You did
it, you found great stuff,

you found the anchors.

You've proved that there's
a trading culture out in
the Atlantic beyond

the Pillars of Hercules.

This is fantastic evidence,
but did you locate Atlantis?

Well, maybe?

You know, Atlantis
could be buried under
the mud at Tartessos.

We need to investigate
that further.

I'm saying prove it,
find it and dig it up.

Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.