Arysio Santos was a Brazilian nuclear physicist and professor who spent decades championing a provocative theory: that the "Lost Continent" of Atlantis wasn't in the Atlantic Ocean, but was actually Sundaland—a massive landmass in Southeast Asia that was submerged at the end of the last Ice Age.
His 2005 book, Atlantis: The Lost Continent Finally Found, is a deep dive into geology, linguistics, and mythology. Here is a breakdown of his core arguments and how they stack up.
Santos’ Key Arguments
Santos argued that the Mediterranean and Atlantic theories failed to account for the sheer scale of the civilization Plato described. Instead, he pointed to the Indo-Pacific region:
- The Submerged Continent: During the Pleistocene, sea levels were about 120 meters lower. This exposed "Sundaland," a continent-sized area connecting the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. When the ice caps melted (around 11,600 years ago), this land was flooded—matching Plato’s timeline for the destruction of Atlantis.
- The "Pillars of Hercules": While most associate these with the Strait of Gibraltar, Santos argued that in ancient contexts, this term referred to the Strait of Malacca, the gateway to the "true" ocean (the Pacific).
- Volcanic Activity: Plato mentioned earthquakes and floods. Santos linked this to the massive volcanic activity in the Indonesian archipelago (the "Ring of Fire"), suggesting a Toba-scale eruption could have triggered the cataclysm.
- Agricultural Origins: He believed the "Garden of Eden" and the birth of agriculture happened in Sundaland, with survivors spreading their knowledge to Egypt, India, and Mesopotamia after the flood.
Scientific and Historical Perspective
While Santos’ work is incredibly detailed, it falls into the category of fringe archaeology. Here is the reality check:
- Geological Timeline: While Sundaland did exist and was submerged, the flooding was a gradual process over thousands of years as sea levels rose. Plato’s account describes a single "terrible day and night of misfortune."
- Cultural Evidence: There is currently no archaeological evidence of a high-tech, metal-working, empire-building civilization in Southeast Asia dating back to 9,000 BCE. Most findings from that era in the region point to hunter-gatherer societies.
- The Plato Problem: Most historians believe Plato created Atlantis as a philosophical allegory to warn Athens against imperial hubris, rather than as a literal historical record.
Why the Theory Persists
Santos’ theory remains popular because it treats Plato's "Large Ocean" as the Pacific and Indian Oceans, which actually fits the geographical descriptions better than the smaller Mediterranean. It also taps into the very real "Meltwater Pulse 1B," a period of rapid sea-level rise that would have been a foundational trauma for early human populations in the region.
Google Gemini AI
9/2/2026: 10.58 a.m
