Recently recovered FarShores file
A westcountry explorer, who claims to have pinpointed the site of the legendary lost city of Atlantis, believes its descendants might have built Noah's Ark.
Former RAF map expert Jim Allen has created a scale model from a 500ft fossilised impression of what is thought to have been the Biblical ship which was discovered near Mount Ararat in Turkey about 20 years ago. He says it matches reed crafts used by the Mesopotamian race of Sumerians who, he claims, could have been descended from Atlantians after they had sailed across the Atlantic from South America. The dimensions also fit those mentioned in the Bible.
According to Greek philosopher Plato, the fabled island city vanished beneath the waves after being devastated by floods and earthquakes nearly 10,000 years before the birth of Christ. Over the centuries suggested locations for this legendary city have included the Scilly Isles, Sweden, the Straits of Gibraltar, Portugal and a spot just north of Crete. However, according to Mr Allen, 49, from Torquay, these are way off target. He reckons Atlantis lies buried beneath salt flats bordering Lake Poopo in the shadow of the Andes in Bolivia. He developed the theory 16 years ago after studying aerial pictures of the world's contours to try to match them with Plato's description of the plain on which Atlantis stood. His put his claims in a book, Atlantis: The Andes Solution.
Earlier this year, an expedition organised by the British chapter of the Explorers' Club of New York and the Scientific Exploration Society set out to prove the theory that ancient South Americans sailed across the Atlantic to trade with Egypt. The explorers, using three traditional reed boats built on the shores of Lake Titicaca, travelled along the Desaguadero River to Lake Poopo. They now plan to continue the expedition to Buenos Aires and then across the Atlantic to Cape Town.
Mr Allen, who is carrying out research for the Kota Mama expedition, said the impression of the Mount Ararat Ark suggested the ancient ship was built of two cylinders of reeds joined at either end, with a gap or "hull pool" in the centre. "The length of the Ark impression is consistent with the length of ancient Sumerian reed ships which had standard lengths as large as 495ft which was 300 Sumerian cubits," he said. "This was also the length of the Bible Ark which also measured 300 cubits."
