Archaeologist and filmmaker Michael Donnellan unveiled new underwater footage and high‑resolution sonar data in his documentary Atlantica, presenting divers in murky waters off the Bay of Cádiz who encountered submerged walls and structures with sharp angles and smooth surfaces. The expedition documented long linear forms on the seabed that he said aligned with descriptions of Atlantis and included detailed 3D images of complex formations.
Donnellan focused his search around Chipiona, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and Rota, where he said parts of a lost city lay under fish farms and near ancient fish traps. He placed the most prominent structures about 20 meters below the surface. Some structures were suspected to be earlier than Roman, possibly Phoenician.
His team conducted multi‑year research along the coast of Cádiz using sonar and LiDAR, and complemented fieldwork with satellite techniquesand aerial photography. He said straight carved structures were visible on the ocean floor, set out as huge concentric circular walls with each wall standing 6.096 meters high. Scans and underwater footage showed right‑angled edges and large rectangular stones. He describs carved channels running between the walls and a central rectangular ruin that he argued resembled Plato’s Temple of Poseidon and could represent the capital of Atlantis.
Donnellan maintains the features correspond with classical texts. He cites Plato’s account of a wealthy and technologically capable civilization, with large temples and harbor arms, that was swallowed by the sea during a natural catastrophe more than 11,000 years ago. He said the discoveries, including sediment‑covered sites that indicated sudden destruction, aligned with observations about climate, social structures, and ancient mythologies in those dialogues.
“All these details perfectly match the region we are studying, and our research reflects Plato’s texts extremely precisely, almost to perfection,” said Donnellan, according to Enikos. He added that fieldwork in the Cádiz area identified prehistoric artifacts, settlements, and ancient gold mines that, together with the underwater formations, formed what he called the strongest evidence of an Atlantean civilization. He said the outer wall appeared to suffer the greatest damage, as if hammered by a tsunami from the sea, while scans showed the second and third walls displaced and cut in two.
Donnellan and collaborators linked the catastrophe to the Younger Dryas, a period of sudden climate changes. They referenced the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis, which proposed that Earth passed through the debris of a disintegrated comet, producing impacts and waves that destabilized glaciers, caused floods that disturbed ocean currents, and triggered rapid cooling. They acknowledged the hypothesis did not gain widespread acceptance among scientists.
The team also points to animals and trade cited in classical accounts. Donnellan cites references to horses, bulls, and elephants, and said traces of ancient horse species and bulls appeared in the region. He said the horse from that area was believed to belong to the oldest breed in the world and that the Andalusian fighting bull had a lineage dating back thousands of years. He added that ivory trade occurred in prehistoric times in this part of Spain and noted reports of three elephant species, including the Asian elephant, suggesting trade relations with Asia.
Interest in the search for Atlantis persists, and more people argue that submerged parts might lie on the coasts of Cádiz. Donnellan said he spent eight years focused on finding the lost city and continues to concentrate his effort on the same stretch of coastline. He argued that, even if the entire city was not located, a piece of it lay offshore and was evident in the structures that his team mapped and filmed.
Independent researchers discussed the project publicly, including a recent appearance by Ben van Kerkwyk on the Joe Rogan Experience, where he talked through the scans and the possible link to Atlantis. Donnellan and his colleagues said their objective was to subject the evidence to investigation in order to validate or refute their findings, and they sought scientific collaboration to conduct additional studies.
Despite the publicity and the new imagery, Donnellan did not convince the scientific community. Many academics maintain that Atlantis was a myth, and researchers keep a cautious stance on the claims made by Donnellan and his team. He said the data from Cádiz provided a basis to reconsider that stance and continued his fieldwork and documentation of the underwater structures.
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