Ireland is real Atlantis, claims academic

A SWEDISH academic who believes Ireland is the ancient land of Atlantis flew into Dublin yesterday amid a storm of controversy about his theories.

Dr Ulf Erlingsson is on a three-day tour here to prove the Ireland is actually linked with the utopian empire which was believed to have been destroyed by a flood-wave 12,000 years ago.

He will visit Newgrange and Knowth passage tombs and the Hill of Tara in Co Meath which he claims were actual remnants of Atlantis as described by Greek philosopher Plato.

Whether Atlantis actually existed has provoked heated debate among scientists and archaeologists for centuries.

The myth spawned several wild theories, sparked a 1970s TV series and a 2001 Disney movie.

But a University College Galway academic dismissed Dr Erlingsson’s theories as “bizarre” and said it was “impossible to compare a mythical planet which may never have existed with a living, breathing country”.

Geography Department head Prof Ulf Strohmayer said: “Mythical places like Atlantis are only there to satisfy some longing in the human psyche for a utopia-type land.

“We create them to tell ourselves that if we screw up on this planet human life will still live on in a better place somewhere else.” But Dr Erlingsson, aged 44, hit back: “I expect to have my knockers. But we must assume that I am right until others can prove I am wrong.”

Dublin City Archaeologist Dr Ruth Johnson described Dr Erlingsson’s views as “interesting” and “definitely revisionist”.

But she said: “It’s like the Holy Grail or Noah’s Ark - people will always try to prove they existed by linking them with actual places.”

Plato wrote that Atlantis supported a sophisticated, modern civilisation while the rest of the world was still stuck in the Stone Age.

Scientists have already claimed that Atlantis could be at the bottom of the mid-Atlantic Ocean or somewhere in the Aegean Sea.

But Prof Erlingsson claims in his book ‘Atlantis from a Geographer’s Perspective: Mapping the Fairy Land’ that Plato’s description of Atlantis matches Ireland perfectly.

“Just like Atlantis, Ireland is 300 miles long, 200 miles wide, and widest over the middle,” he said. “No other island on earth comes closer than Ireland to this description.”

Prof Erlingsson, who has a PhD in Physical Geography from Sweden’s Uppsala University, specialises in geological processes, under-water research and natural disasters.