Atlantis and the Silver City (25 page)

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The Bahamas group of western Atlantic islands today and what they would probably have looked like twelve thousand years ago, when they would have been much larger but fewer in number
.

That “Catés” statue pointed west to the Caribbean, which would have been the prince’s next destination. Here we are entering an area where there has been intense speculation and controversy over finds that could relate to Atlantis. Edgar Cayce predicted that parts of “Posedia” would be found slowly rising from the seabed in the vicinity of Bimini in the 1960s.

It is apparent that much more land was once above water in this region, and that it had either sunk or been immersed by rising sea levels. (
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32,
PREVIOUS PAGE
.) The Edgar Cayce Foundation, run by his family, has been very active in exploration and has made controversial discoveries of ancient ruins not far below the sea’s surface. Some of these ruins are thought to have been breakwaters and harbors, indicating that they were from a maritime civilization. These finds may be “old news,” but it is worthwhile examining them here because of their relevance to the Atlantis Empire.
⁷⁴

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IMAGE
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A drawing of the “Bimini Road” discovery
. (Courtesy of Drs. Greg & Lora Little, “Edgar Cayce’s Atlantis” © 2006.)

One of the earliest finds, which has received a lot of publicity, was of a large extended underwater construction dubbed “The Bimini Road,” only fifteen or twenty feet below the surface. It is a massive formation of huge stones consistently placed, with the extremities of the formation extending under the sand. (
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ABOVE
.) One end curves smoothly around like a hockey stick. Part of the “handle” has a cut-out center. The site was originally discovered by a Miami-based biologist, Dr. J. Manson Valentine,
after two local fishing guides had shown him its position, about a mile off north Bimini. It is more than sixteen hundred feet long.

Geologists were immediately skeptical, and one of them, Wyman Harrison, after examining a couple of blocks, said they were limestone that had simply fractured
in situ
. In a 1971 edition of
Nature
magazine, he asserted that the site was completely natural, stating “at no place are blocks found to be resting on a similar set beneath.”

The Edgar Cayce Foundation was convinced that the site was the remains of a huge harbor installation. Their belief had to be balanced with the fact that Edgar Cayce had predicted that remains of Atlantis would be found in this area, so they had a corner to fight from. The foundation claims, however, that they were vindicated when three of the organization’s researchers—Drs. Greg and Lora Little and John Van Auken—returned to the site in May 2005 to conduct a detailed underwater examination.
⁷⁵
Their findings enabled them to emphatically refute the debunkers. The evidence was clear-cut. The Bimini site had ancient artifacts that included stone anchors. It was built from multiple tiers of stone blocks, many supported by leveling prop stones.

The ancient stone anchors had holes bored in their centers and grooves cut for ropes. The Littles claim that they are almost identical to ancient Greek examples found near Santorini (Thera) and those used by other civilizations—the Phoenicians, for example.

Graham Hancock had also examined the site and, prior to diving, had been skeptical of the claims that it was a man-made structure. After many hours of close-up underwater examination, however, he had to admit that the evidence was very convincing.
⁷⁶
He noted that some large blocks were even supported by smaller stones, like little pillars, so that you could see under them from one side to the other. He also drew attention to some stone circles close by. As a result of Graham’s observations, the 2005 expedition searched for, found, and closely examined the circles. Some were constructed from large rectangular blocks arranged in a circle, with the center consisting simply of seabed. The circles are at fairly evenly spaced intervals, and the seabed between them is covered by small, flat stones. Other circles are of large blocks of stone piled into heaps. The Littles point out that several ancient Mediterranean harbors utilized “mooring circles.” Like these at Bimini, they were usually built outside the main harbor as brief holding stations for boats not permitted to enter.

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IMAGE
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Artist’s impression of how the “Bimini Road” would have looked when in use as a harbor
. (Courtesy of Drs. Greg &Lora Little, “Edgar Cayce’s Atlantis” © 2006.)

Many old harbors in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas were constructed in a similar way to the “Bimini Road.”

When all the evidence was combined—the 1,600-foot-long breakwater, the mooring circles, and the anchors—it persuasively indicates that the installation off Bimini was built as a harbor. (
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ABOVE
.)

Allowing for various factors, the Littles came to the conclusion that the complex was in use as far back as between 8000 and 6000
B.C.
By 5000
B.C.
, rising sea levels would have made it obsolete. This last date precludes its being of Minoan or Phoenician origin; it ceased being of any practical use long before their civilizations existed.

There have been other similar discoveries off Andros, the largest island in the Bahamas. Some, thought originally to be the remains of large buildings, have been identified as recent sponge pens; but one other, dubbed the “Andros Platform,” is similar to the “Bimini Road.” For more information,
read
Edgar Cayce’s Atlantis
by the Littles and Van Auken
⁷⁷
and Graham Hancock’s
Underworld
.
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BELOW
.)

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IMAGE
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Artist’s impression of the “Andros Platform” when in use as a harbor
. (Courtesy of Drs. Greg & Lora Little, “Edgar Cayce’s Atlantis” © 2006.)

In 2007, an expedition was mounted by the foundation specifically to explore Andros. It discovered a stone wall in shallow water near a small offshore island. It consisted of limestone blocks, clearly hewn and dressed with tool marks still visible.

The Caribbean is on the other side of the vast Atlantic Ocean from Iberia, and the possibility of the Atlanteans and their lifestyle continuing there long after the tragic sinking of the homeland must be considered. Plato makes it clear that the various constituent parts of the empire were ruled autonomously by the heirs of Poseidon’s sons and did not have to rely on the original Atlantis, except for trade.

This would explain the evidence of contacts with South America by tall, blond, bearded individuals, which contacts could have been more recent
than dates given by Plato for the demise of Atlantis. Graham Hancock’s
Fingerprints of the Gods
details the many stories of these superior beings who suddenly appeared in boats from the east, landed in various parts of South America, and proceeded to civilize the indigenous population.

There are dozens of islands in the Caribbean, the most easterly being the Lesser Antilles group, the most northerly the Bahamas, and, below them, the largest: the Greater Antilles group of Cuba, Hispaniola, and Jamaica. Most of them would have been considerably bigger before the Ice Age thaw. Andros Island is the best example. Much of the seabed surrounding it, including the Grand Bahamas Bank, is thought to have once been land that was submerged. It is still very shallow. During the Atlantis epoch, it would have been a considerable landmass.

Bimini also sits on part of the Grand Bahamas Bank. The Little Bahamas Bank to the north would once also have been above water and would have linked up several islands, including the Grand Bahamas. Cuba, to the south, has several such archipelagos off its north and south coasts, all of which would have once been part of a much larger Cuba.

It has been suggested by author Andrew Collins that Cuba was Atlantis and that, from there, the Atlanteans influenced the development of the great civilizations in South America.
⁷⁹
That could be correct, except in one respect: Cuba was quite likely one of the biggest islands in the Atlantean Empire and, therefore, important—but it wasn’t the homeland. I am sure that was back in southwest Iberia.

Interestingly, Edgar Cayce, in his famous reading about the rediscovery of Atlantis off Bimini, said that Posedia would be amongst the first
portions
of Atlantis to rise. This seems to indicate that Posedia was part of the Atlantis Empire, but not necessarily the main part.

The fabled island of Antilia, shown on many early nautical charts in the area of the Caribbean, has long been associated with Atlantis, if for nothing else than the similarity of names.

It first appeared on a map by a Venetian cartographer, Zuane Pizzigano. Elena Wishaw pointed out that Columbus was having great difficulty in assembling a crew at Palos until the return from a voyage by the renowned local navigator Martin Alonso Pinzón. He threw his weight behind Columbus, as he believed the proposed expedition would rediscover Antilia,
and the local seamen rallied to him. The area had a wealth of sailing experience going back to at least the Phoenician era, and had passionately preserved the memory of a great island of that name that existed way across the western ocean. Pinzón captained one of the two caravels that sailed out of Palos with Columbus’s
Santa Maria
. It has been suggested that the name of the island derived from
ante
(originally Latin), meaning “before” or “in front of,” together with
ilha
, meaning “island.” This temptingly led to the conclusion that it was in front of a large continent.

In
Underworld
, Graham Hancock speculates that Antilia was quite possibly the large island originally formed by the Grand Bahamas Bank. It appears to be shown on the Piri Reis map and has been dubbed the map’s “Ghost Island.” Certainly, by the time Columbus reached the Caribbean, Andros was nowhere near that large, so it could not have been recorded or mapped as that size by him. It could, however, have already featured large on the chart he showed to Martin Pinzón. This could explain Pinzón’s assertion to potential crew that they hoped to rediscover the fabled Antilia. That this island existed at least earlier than twelve thousand years ago, together with the other enlarged islands in the Caribbean, is really beyond dispute. Plato appears to indicate that islands in the Atlantis Kingdom existed in that area. Their close proximity to each other would make it likely that they were all part of the empire.