Spartel
Encyclopedia
Spartel Bank or Majuán Bank is a submerged former island located in the Strait of Gibraltar
at 35°55' N 5°58' W near Cape Spartel
, its highest point is currently 56 meters below the surface. It vanished under the surface approximately 12,000 years ago due to rising ocean levels from melting ice caps after the last Glacial Maximum
. It has been proposed by researchers Jacques Collina-Girard and Marc-Andrè Gutscher as a site for the legendary lost island of Atlantis
. However, in follow-up correspondence Gutscher indicates that the island could not have been Atlantis, referring to Plato's description of a Bronze Age society, which Spartel could not have supported at the time. A detailed review in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review
comments on the discrepancies in Collina-Girard's dates and use of coincidences, concluding that he "has certainly succeeded in throwing some light upon some momentous developments in human prehistory in the area west of Gibraltar. Just as certainly, however, he has not found Plato's Atlantis."
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
at 35°55' N 5°58' W near Cape Spartel
Cape Spartel
Cape Spartel is a promontory in Morocco about above sea level at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, 12 km West of Tangier. It is frequently but incorrectly referred as the northernmost point of Africa, which is instead Ras ben Sakka, Tunisia....
, its highest point is currently 56 meters below the surface. It vanished under the surface approximately 12,000 years ago due to rising ocean levels from melting ice caps after the last Glacial Maximum
Last Glacial Maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum refers to a period in the Earth's climate history when ice sheets were at their maximum extension, between 26,500 and 19,000–20,000 years ago, marking the peak of the last glacial period. During this time, vast ice sheets covered much of North America, northern Europe and...
. It has been proposed by researchers Jacques Collina-Girard and Marc-Andrè Gutscher as a site for the legendary lost island of Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
. However, in follow-up correspondence Gutscher indicates that the island could not have been Atlantis, referring to Plato's description of a Bronze Age society, which Spartel could not have supported at the time. A detailed review in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Bryn Mawr Classical Review is an open access journal founded in 1990. It publishes reviews of current scholarly work in the field of classical studies including classical archaeology. This journal is the second oldest online humanities scholarly journal. It provides both online and print...
comments on the discrepancies in Collina-Girard's dates and use of coincidences, concluding that he "has certainly succeeded in throwing some light upon some momentous developments in human prehistory in the area west of Gibraltar. Just as certainly, however, he has not found Plato's Atlantis."
Further reading
- Marc-André Gutscher. "Destruction of Atlantis by a great earthquake and tsunami? A geological analysis of the Spartel Bank hypothesis" in Geology Volume 33, Number 8, pp. 685–688 (2005).