I’ve been researching Atlantis for over 30 years.  Much like many others, I haven’t written a book on the subject (yet), I haven’t been on the Discovery Channel, and I have my own idea of what Atlantis was.   Much like politics and religion, Atlantis is one of the most contentious topics you will ever encounter.  First you have the division between the academics and the non academics.    Mention Atlantis in an academic paper and you can kiss your career as an archaeologist or anthropologist goodbye.   I’ve contacted several people doing underwater research and at best I got a polite thanks but no thanks.  This leaves most of us to our own skills to search in whichever way we are able.  Some of us scour old manuscripts, some of us go diving, some of us go digging, and others spend time searching through miles of square miles of satellite imagery.   I tend to do a little of each – less the diving part.  I haven’t quite gotten over the large fin based creatures that tend to frequent the underwater possible locations.

The challenges within the Atlantis community of researchers has it’s own set of challenges.   If you ask ten people about where they think Atlantis is, and you will get 10 different answers.  Ask ten people who are researching Atlantis the same question, and you will get 10 louder answers.    I tend to view the whole thing like the story of the blind men describing an elephant (hence the picture).  We all are aware of one aspect of the Atlantis story.  The problem is that we often think we are seeing the whole picture, when we are really just seeing one aspect.  I’m the first to admit that my own view of Atlantis are probably not the complete picture.  As such I’m always willing to listen to other ideas.  I know they are all different views of the elephant.  And much like that example, all of our views of Atlantis probably need to be combined together to reveal the complete picture.

For any of you who would like to to venture out of the forums and put your money where your mouth is, I’d be happy to have you as a guest poster.  As long as you have a reasonable theory and something you are willing to share, I’d consider using it.   I think the more we share, the closer we get to actually solving the mystery of Atlantis.