I read Graham Hancock’s book “Underworld” a couple of years ago and found one thing more striking than anything else.
At the end of the last ice age as the glaciers melted, the glaciers themselves acted as giant ice dams holding back the melt water. There were several occasions, the most recent one occurring around 11,000 years ago, where the ice dam super structure failed catastrophically and unleashed an enormous volume of water in a very short period of time. It was estimated that the Canadian glacier at this time released over one million cubic kilometers of water in the space of a few hours.
Sea level would have risen quickly and permanently world-wide, which would explain the source of all of the world’s great flood legends, from both the old world and the Americas.
I mention all of this because of the timing of the last great global inundation. As was supposedly related to Plato’s uncle, Solon, by an Egyptian priest around 500 BC, Atlantis was inundated and destroyed 9,000 years previous to their time. The estimated dates of the worldwide inundation and dates for Atlantis as passed on to Solon are a very close match.
I first read about Spyridon Marinatos’ Santorini theory in the 1960’s and have followed the various vying theories on Atlantis as they’ve come and gone. I agree with Hancock’s conclusion that the Atlantis legend is probably referring to an event of immense antiquity that was triggered by this world-wide inundation. We should take Plato literally.
I just posted a review of Hancock's "UNderworld" last week or so: UNDERWORLD - Graham Hancock The thesis of Hancock's is that during near the end of the Ice Age there arose an advanced stone age coastal civilization - not advanced like they had cars or lasers but advanced like the Egyptians and when the great melt happened this far flung coastal civilization/empire was drowned giving rise to the Atlantis myth and other flood myths with the survivors of the coastal flood moving inland to be among the less advanced humans of the inner continents who viewed the more advances coastal dwellers as gods or near gods. What survived are racial memories and some passed down knowledge turned to myth and legends and for the most part real evidence for this civilization is buried under the seas.