Lost City of Atlantis found 鈥撀燼gain 鈥撀爐his time in Guatemala
| Guatemala City
鈥� A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
A retired German math teacher has spurred a national hubbub in Guatemala by claiming to have discovered an ancient underwater city laden with treasure.
Joachim Rittstieg grabbed headlines in March with his visit to Lake Izabal in eastern Guatemala. Buried there, he claims, are eight tons of gold tablets in Plato鈥檚 legendary Atlantis.
Instead of being dismissed, Mr. Rittstieg has garnered a lot of interest. Guatemalan newspapers called him a 鈥淕erman scientist鈥� and followed his expedition with enthusiasm.
Rittstieg arrived with a reporting team and a scuba diver sent by a popular German tabloid.
The buzz over Rittstieg is 鈥渧ery strange,鈥� says Oswaldo Chinchilla, a Guatemalan archaeology professor and Mayan museum curator. 鈥淭his is complete fantasy,鈥� he says.
Meanwhile, a group of German Mesoamerican scholars called Rittstieg鈥檚 claims 鈥渁bsurd鈥� and damaging to Germany鈥檚 reputation.
Rittstieg says he can鈥檛 help the fact that he found the city and the experts didn鈥檛. He says the ancient Dresden Codex and Mayan priests guided him, and claims the US Navy helped detect the exact location. 鈥淭hey say it cannot be. But I have the basic information now,鈥� says Rittstieg, who is seeking funding for an excavation.
