Archaeologist Says Underwater Finds Off Spain Could Be Atlantis; Claims Draw Scrutiny

An independent archaeologist and his collaborators have described what they say are submerged ruins, prehistoric settlements and ancient mines off the coast of southwestern Spain that they believe could match descriptions of the legendary city of Atlantis.

The claims were highlighted in an appearance by independent researcher Ben van Kerkwyk on the Joe Rogan Experience, where he described work by Michael Donnellan and others who reported discovering large linear seabed features and enormous concentric circular walls near the region historically known as Gades. Van Kerkwyk told the podcast that the team “100 percent found some s*** in the waters,” and host Joe Rogan responded to the account with a stunned “Wow.”

Donnellan, speaking to the Daily Mail, said the identified features align with descriptions in Plato’s dialogues Timaeus and Critias, which depict an advanced island civilization with grand temples and massive harbor walls that was submerged more than 11,000 years ago. He and his colleagues have promoted a forthcoming documentary, Atlantica, intended to present imagery and survey data from the site.

Plato’s account, written in the fourth century B.C., has long been the foundation for theories about a historical Atlantis, though scholars have debated whether his narrative was intended as literal history, political allegory or myth. Over the last two centuries, researchers and enthusiasts have proposed many locations across the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and beyond.

The team’s descriptions, as relayed in media interviews and on the podcast, center on sonar and remote-imaging evidence of large-scale geometric features on the seafloor and nearby submerged cultural material. Donnellan and his collaborators have suggested the combination of structures, nearby prehistoric settlements and ancient mining activity in the Gades region provide the strongest support for an Atlantic civilization corresponding to Plato’s account.

Extraordinary claims about finds tied to ancient legends typically require extensive, multidisciplinary validation. That process includes detailed excavation (where feasible), direct dating of recovered materials, sediment analysis, stratigraphic study, and peer-reviewed publication of methods and results. As of the statements reported in media outlets, the researchers have not released peer-reviewed data or been reported to have presented their findings to the broader archaeological community for independent verification.

Mainstream archaeologists have previously cautioned that seabed imagery can reveal natural geological formations—such as buried channels, basalt flows or sand and sediment patterns—that may appear artificial at certain scales or resolutions. Accurate interpretation generally depends on corroborating evidence from recoverable artifacts, in situ stratigraphy and laboratory dating.

The region around ancient Gades (modern Cádiz) has a long human history and a complex coastal geology. Sea-level changes since the last Ice Age altered shorelines around the Mediterranean and Atlantic margins, submerging some former coastal landscapes and preserving others. Researchers studying submerged prehistoric sites commonly use a combination of bathymetric mapping, sub-bottom profiling, core sampling and targeted excavation to establish the antiquity and origin of seafloor features.

Van Kerkwyk and Donnellan have attracted public attention through the podcast appearance and media interviews; Donnellan’s documentary is slated to present the team’s imaging and interpretations. Independent experts say such releases can provide useful preliminary data but do not substitute for formal scientific reporting and peer review.

If confirmed by rigorous, reproducible methods and scholarly consensus, any substantial finds in the Gades region would contribute to understanding coastal occupation and maritime activity during prehistoric and historic periods. For now, the claims add to a long list of proposed identifications of Atlantis and underscore ongoing interest in submerged landscapes and the challenges of distinguishing human-made structures from natural seabed features.

Researchers and institutions with an interest in submerged archaeology say they welcome further data, including released survey files, specimen samples and detailed methodological documentation, so that the wider scientific community can assess the age, origin and cultural context of the reported features.