S01E10 - Atlantis

Sharon Hill (Scientifical Americans) joins Jeb and Blake to talk about the Atlantis episode of In Search Of... Watch original In Search Of episode on YouTube. This is a kind of a disjointed mess of an ISO episode, so our notes are kind of all over the place as well. But here's a bunch of highlights and additional reading from our own prep notes for the show:

• We'll be covering Easter Island in a terrific upcoming episode, but it has nothing to do with Atlantis.
• Olmec heads don't weigh anything like what is claimed.
• The Tiwankau text about "long before the Pyramids" stuff comes from nazi-sympathizer Arthur Posnansky whose "15,000 years ago" dating has been picked up by many alt-archaeology researchers.
• Thera/Santorini is a beautiful place that suffered a devastating disaster ( 1642–1540 BCE ). When not being called "Atlantis" it spends a lot of time as photographs in Greek restaurants.
• Antikythera Mechanism is from within 200 - 50 BCE. Plato wrote the Atlantis story more than 100 - 200 years before the device was even made. It has nothing to do with Atlantis.
• Dr. Maxine Asher is a controversial choice for "subject matter expert." Her views may not have been known by the ISO producers? Weird ramblings about Catholics, Jews, 12 Noahs, Psychic Powers, and academic fraud are just some of her career highlights.
• The Piri Reis map appears again. It does not show Antarctica. Nor Atlantis.
• The Edgar Cayce people make an appearance. Their group is called the Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE).
• The Bimini "Wall" or "Road" is discussed. It looks manmade but was created by natural processes. Other geological features that look manmade include The Giant's Causeway.
• We talk a bit about Peter Tompkins and mentioned: The Secret Life of Plants Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle
• Oldest reference I found saying that Peter Tompkins might have been the voice in that weird call was from this 2003 post by "Gian." This comports closely to words written on The Quester Files site - by Gian Quasar, whom I presume is the same author. (Note: Blake and Jeb are both highly skeptical that Tompkins is the voice.)
• The Mochica artifacts (and the troubling assertion that their art represents proof of a post-Atlantis diaspora) are presented. There is no evidence that this is true, and Jeb is suspicious that some of those artifacts shown are forgeries.

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