Geologists and archaeologists are constantly looking for lost continents and civilisations. The allure of discovering a long lost ancient civilisation is particularly appealing. The glory that accompanies the discovery of lost continents and peoples is seductive. But please, stop searching for Atlantis – it is not real.

Geologists have only this year confirmed that they have found a long submerged continent – Zealandia, most of which is under water.

Initially proposed by scientists in 1995, this continent, also known as Te Riu-a-Māui or Tasmatis, broke away from Gondwana millions of years ago. After thirty years of painstaking investigation, scientists have confirmed the location and size of this submerged continent.

That is exciting news – finding a lost continent only adds to our sense of wonder regarding the Earth. You know what is still fictional after centuries? Atlantis.

This mythical continent, (and its associated putative advanced civilisation) first conceived as a morality tale by the Greek philosopher Plato, was meant as a metaphorical warning about the dangers of hubris. After approximately 2300 years since its initial appearance in literature, the myth of Atlantis has inspired countless theories and speculations about its location and nature.

We have had false starts over the centuries…..

There are multiple sites around the world that have been nominated as the site of the mythical Atlantis. Rather than address each one of these claims (which have been comprehensively rejected) let’s examine the common generalised pattern of each claim. A geographic feature, be they concentric circles, a hitherto unidentified mountain or underwater structure, is located. Geologists and archaeologists try to explain said structure.

If their explanations have any gaps or leave doubts unresolved, the Atlantis enthusiasts step up, and lay claim to the structure or site. Proposing that an ancient and technologically advanced civilisation is responsible for creating said structure, Atlantis pops up as an equivalent god-of-the-gaps fallacy.

Undersea technologies are indispensable in identifying long lost cities, continents and peoples. Numerous sites across the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and even Antarctica have been proposed as sites of the mythological Atlantis. Natural processes produce harmonious, orderly structures all the time. From snowflakes to complex hydrocarbons, material and metabolic systems produce what we see as ‘orderly’ structures throughout the natural world.

What was Plato driving at when he first wrote about Atlantis thousands of years ago?

Plato’s discussion of Atlantis is contained in two of his dialogues; Timaeus and Critias. Plato was a philosopher, but he was a distinctly political thinker. His Socratic dialogues were concerned with constructing an ideal, just state. His discussion came with warnings about hubris; the arrogant belief that the society in you live is invincible and the best.

Plato was using the myth of Atlantis as a cautionary historical tale: a long lost utopia that was catastrophically destroyed by its own sense of hubris. In the Critias dialogue, for instance, Plato relates what the ancient Egyptians told Solon the Greek ruler from generations ago, and what he then relayed to Plato’s grandfather – a hearsay parable about an advanced semi-maritime civilisation that tried to conquer the world, but failed when it battled Athens.

Certainly, Plato knew about the giant rivals of the Greeks, the Persians, and Carthaginians. He constructed a metaphorical tale on the demise of ancient Atlantis as a modern day warning for his fellow Greek politicians and philosophers.

Explaining catastrophes that befall strong, seemingly invincible empires was a preoccupation of Athenian philosophy. Plato’s description was part of this ongoing dialogue, not a specific geological or archaeological reference.

The philosophers of Ancient Greece were certainly aware of the demise of Minoan civilisation, a Bronze Age society that flourished on the island of Crete. Its longstanding prosperity, followed by a cataclysmic collapse, was still being discussed in Athens. Archaeologists and geologists have confirmed the existence of Minoan civilisation – no need to keep searching for the fictional Atlantis.

The fact that we are only gradually realising that there were culturally and technologically sophisticated civilisations and peoples outside the Western canon makes us search for these long-vanished cultures.

Sub-Saharan Africa, indigenous nations in the Americas and Australia, ancient India and China – all have their archaeological mysteries and unresolved questions. They have also contributed, each in their own way, to a greater understanding of ourselves and the cosmos. Pursuing a fictional Atlantean civilisation is not just harmless fun, it is derailing attempts at genuine intercultural understanding.

No, not every person who believes in Atlantis is racist. This belief in a superior ancient culture is deployed to divert our attention from the very real cultural and scientific contributions of civilisations from the nonwhite world.

The romantic allure of ancient worlds kept book sales going in the pre-Internet age. Currently, social media recycles and amplifies long-debunked speculations as alternative hypotheses. The mystery of Atlantis will never be completely laid to rest, but it can be rejected in favour of more fruitful searches for lost cultures.