The Atlantis stade resolved by high resolution satellite images of irrigation canals in Tabasco, Mexico

Plato tells us that throughout his story of Atlantis, Greek names have been used to make it agreeable to his readers. Examples of these could be trireme for ship, hoplite for warrior, bulls for the animal used for sacrifice and the stade, which was a Greek unit of measurement intended to be a 1/10th of a minute of latitude. So the stade correspondingly measured according to Berriman (1953) 607.5 English feet or 185.166 metres. For the Greeks, the stade was simply 600 Greek feet, but related to English feet each Greek foot would have been 12.15 English inches (308.61 mm). There is a difference in the length of a foot between "Egyptian" feet, "Greek" feet and "Babylonian" feet because in each case they were derived from the latitude of the observer, Athens, Alexandria and Babylonia being at different latitudes would have slight differences in the length of the foot, whereas the English foot is based on a different system namely the division of the polar diameter of the planet which gives an invariable unit of 12 inches (304.8 mm) to the English foot.

If we could locate the actual plain of Atlantis, we could then measure it to see what size stade might have been used in comparison to Plato's Greek stade.

Ulf Richter (2005) wrote an excellent paper on Atlantis which he presented to the 2005 Milos conference. In it he speculates that the stade used in Atlantis might be a much smaller Egyptian unit called a "khet" of 172 feet (52.4 metres) which was 100 Egyptian Royal cubits.

It is also clear that the word "stade" has been inserted inconsistently where different units might have actually have been used. From the dimensions of the rectangular plain found in Bolivia called the Altiplano which has been identified as the site of Atlantis, it is possible to measure it in the way Plato described - upwards from the sea (meaning Lake Poopo) and it measures 3,000 x 2000 "stades" of about 300 feet (92.5 metres), that is half a Greek stade and would be consistent with a unit which was a 1/20th of a minute of latitude. This would also fit in with South American systems of measurement since both the Mayans and Aztecs counted in 20's and the calendar at Tiwanaku (Bolivia) is also based on divisions of 20. The 300 foot stade is also the length of the base of the tower of Babylon, called a "furlong" by Herodotus, but today a furlong is 660 feet so what Herodotus found was a "half-furlong" or "half-stade". (see Herodotus, Histories, Book 1, 181) also since the 300 foot measurement was made by an English archaeologist of the mound in its ruined condition, the original may have been 297 feet which would have been the nearest unit in Sumerian or Babylonian measurements.

Since in measuring such a large area as the Altiplano it is difficult to establish the precise points exactly where the rectangular plain might have been measured from, it is equally possible that instead of an exact unit such as 300 English feet, the stade could have been half a geographic stade making it 303.75 feet (92.583 metres) or if it were set out in Sumerian units it could have been a stade of 297 feet (90.525 metres) which would have been 180 Sumerian cubits, or it could have been a stade of 330 feet (100.584 metres)making it half a furlong i.e. 200 sumerian cubits.

Above, measuring from the edge of the sea to the 12,000ft contour on the western side suggests a stade of 297ft

Above, measuring the full width of the plain including the sea to the 12,000ft contour suggests a stade of 330ft

Above, The stade of 330ft fits better as the length of the plain from where it meets the 12,000ft contour (coloured blue) at its northern edge to where it meets the 12,000ft contour on the southern edge of the Salar de Uyuni with the width of the plain shown here from the 12,000ft contour on its western side to where it meets the mountains on the eastern side, thus defining it as 3,000 x 2,000 stades.

In the case of the circular formation found at Pampa Aullagas, the "best fit" for the zones of canals has been found to be a stade of 165 feet (50.3 metres) which is also an ancient Sumerian unit of measurement and similat to the 172ft "khet" proposed by Ulf Richter.

The plain was quoted by Plato to contain 60,000 allotments of 10 x 10 stades and in this respect using the 330ft Sumerian stade there would be as Plato said, 60,000 "allotments" separated by canals at intervals of 100 stades of 330ft.

A system of parallel canals which measure about 5 feet (1.5 metres) wide similar to those described by Plato has been found on the Altiplano in this area using high resolution satellite photos

A section of giant channel has been found to the west of Lake Poopo and two sections of giant canal 200 feet wide (60 metres) have also been found near Oruro and it is hoped that archaeological field work can be undertaken in this area to establish dating. Due to insufficient high resolution coverage, it is not possible to study the entire area where the canals exist including to the west of Lake Poopo but sufficient coverage exists to demonstrate the existence of this parallel canal system in an area which is now mostly salt desert.

A similar network of straight canals about this width has also been found covering a large area of the Beni region of Bolivia, where they run between mounds which were used for habitations and also connected by causeways which run alongside the canals.

The satellite imagery made freely available by Google Earth allows us to undertake searches for similar canal networks in other areas of the Americas.

The oldest civilisation of meso-America is said to be that of the Olmecs, thought to have arrived there around 1500 to 1200 BC.

Satellite images show that the area around Tabasco was previously covered in an extensive system of canalised irrigation in what is now swamp and lagoon covered land

above, plots of the Olmecs/Mayas in the Tabasco region of Mexico.

At first it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between ancient and modern canalisation or old canals which have been re-used in modern times or sometimes even routes of old canals which have been used as roads or paths, but archaeological studies done in this area confirm the existence of ancient canals …
CLICK for report HERE

In this zone of established ancient canals we can identify canals forming a grid pattern similar to that mentioned by Plato for Atlantis and using the satellite we can measure the size of the plots or "Allotments".

above, plots apprximate to 1650 feet or 100 stades of 165 feet.

These plots seem to be set out on average in blocks of 1650 feet (502.92 metres). This means that each side would be 10 Sumerian "stades" of 165 feet such as found for the circular complex of the Atlantis site at Pampa Aullagas. Each side would also measure 1,000 "Sumerian cubits of 19.8" (502.92 mm).

This is consistent with Plato's description that in Atlantis, the size of the allotment was 10 x 10 stades, but here we have the same problem that perhaps the ancient translators had - what to actually call the units because "Stade" was used to describe the unit measuring the plain of Atlantis which in fact was a unit of 297 feet, whereas this smaller "stade" of 165 feet is similar to the Egyptian unit called "khet" except that it measured 100 Sumerian cubits instead of Egyptian cubits. (150 Sumerian feet ) [50.292 metres].

This is additionally consistent with the size of a plot of land in ancient Egyptian times which was based on the Egyptian unit called "khet" which measured 100 cubits and a square area called "setat" which was 1 khet x 1 khet makng 100 x 100 cubits.

In Egypt the standard award of a plot of land consisted in 10 "setat" usually in the form of a strip of land 100 cubits wide by 1,000 cubits long called "a thousand of land" whereas warriors were usually awarded 12 "setat" which Herodotus (II,168) called 12 "arurae".

There was also a relationship between the Sumerian and the Egyptian cubits in the ratio of 24/25 so the Sumerian cubit of 19.8" was 24/25ths of the Egyptian cubit of 20.625".

The blocks which contain "warriors land" are set out in sides of relationship 5 to 6, or 10 to 12 and no doubt other variations were possible as the principal blocks could also have been divided by 8 or 4 resulting in irregular shapes, but the principal unit as described by Plato was the 10 x 10 block such as the example found in the Tabasco area.

above, this block in Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, Mexico measures 1650 feet wide so is 1000 Sumerian cubits square and is divided into strips of 200 x 1000 cubits i.e. 330ft wide, which would also be 96 x 480 Mayan hunabs.

above, these adjacent plots near Tucume, Peru are 330 feet wide which is 200 cubits of 19.8" or 2 stades or khet of 165 feet or 1 stade of 330ft as used to describe the length and breadth of the Altiplano.

above, these adjacent plots near Tucume, Peru have combined width of 660 feet which is 400 cubits of 19.8" or 4 stades or khet of 165 feet or 2 stades of 330ft as used to describe the Bolivian altiplano or 1 x standard "Sumerian" furlong.

above, these 2 x adjacent plots near Tucume, Peru are 2400 cubits of 19.8" long making them 12 x 330ft stades of the type used to describe the Bolivian altiplano long x 1 stade of 330ft wide i.e each is the length of a "warrior plot" and snce the two plots have a combined width of 400 cubits or 1 furlong, the total area is 8 x "warriors plots".

above, these adjacent plots on the Altiplano are 1650 and 1980 feet long respectively, making the one on the left equal to 1000 cubits and the one on the right 1200 cubits therefore equal in length to "standard" Atlantis plot and the "warriors plot" mentioned above.

regular blocks of 10 x 10 stades or khet of 165 feet in the Tabasco area of Mexico, each block is 1000 x 1000 cubits. Four of these squares would make the allotment of 10 x 10 stades of 330ft in terms of the stade describing the length and breadth of the rectangular Altiplano.

Above,These channels on the Bolivian Altiplano in the Tiwanaku/La Paz region are 1 x furlong apart making them at intervals of 660ft which is 2 x the 330ft "stade" found measuring the rectangular plain and 4 x the 165ft stade found at Pampa Aullagas and in Mexico.

At last the Altiplano gives up its secrets! These channels on the Bolivian Altiplano north west of La Paz region are in regular plots of 330ft confirming the use of the 330ft stade to describe the rectangular plain next to Lake Poopo.

In most regions, the underlying system of regular canals in straight lines has disappeared, but in this region north west of La Paz remains of these channels at 330 ft intervals can be clearly seen.

In the above composite photos, the thin white grid lines are aligned to present day true North as provided by Google Earth. The canals are aligned to just east of North and just south of East and are of the same alignment as the pyramid of Akapana at Tiwanaku. The significance, setting aside Atlantis for the moment, is that the plots being in units of half furlong and one furlong, when dated positively to before the Conquest, prove conclusively a contact between the Americas and the "Old World" long before Columbus.

Measuring the width of the rectangular plain from the edge of the sea suggested a stade of 297ft and we can compare this unit to a stade of 330ft obtained by measuring the overall width of the plain.

Proportionately, each of Plato's allotments of 10 x 10 stades using stades of 297ft would enclose 18 x 18 setat of 100 x 100 cubits with divisions into landholder's strips of 10 "Atlantean" setat making 6.25 acres (2.75 hectares) per landholder or "warriors" strips of 12 setat making 7.5 acres or 3 hectares per warrior. With each allotment containing 18 x 18 or 324 setat, they would accommodate 32.4 standard landholders, or could be more conveniently divided into 18 landholder's strips of 10 setat plus 12 warriors strips of 12 setat, though in practice land was usually allocated on the basis of needs per family with multiples of the fundamental unit of 1 setat of 100 x 100 cubits being a useful basic measure for allocation.

However, if the stade were the 330ft half-furlong, then, each of Plato's allotments of 10 x 10 stades using stades of 330ft would enclose 20 x 20 setat of 100 x 100 cubits (similar to the division of Time into 20 x 20 months in the Tiwanaku calendar) with divisions into 20 rows of 2 x landholder's strips of 10 "Atlantean" setat making 6.25 acres (2.75 hectares) per landholder with a convenient round number of 40 landholders or families per allotment which could also be divided into quarters with 10 landholders or families per quarter - and after all, under Inca rule, the whole country was called "Tahuantinsuyo" and similarly divided into four quarters.

According to Plato, the Atlantis plain measured 3,000 x 2,000 stades: the distance between the principal canals on the Atlantean plain was 100 stades, and the allotments were 10 x 10 stades so if each "stade" were 297ft the distance between major canals would be 29,700ft whereas using the 330ft stade 330ft the distance between major canals would be 33,000ft, in both cases forming divisions which each contain 100 allotments and there would still be 60,000 allotments all told. With major canals at 100 stade (of 297ft) intervals, each division between the major canals could contain 10 x 10 allotments of 10 x 10 stades of 297ft or 18 x 18 blocks of 10 x 10 khet of 165ft and each block of 10 x 10 khet (1000 x 1000 cubits) supported 10 x landholder strips of 10 setat so either way, the square division between major canals would support 324 landholder plots or familes subdivided into "allotments" of 32.4 familes if standard plots of 10 setat were used.

Alternatively with major canals at 100 stade (of 330ft) intervals, each division between the major canals could contain 10 x 10 allotments of 10 x 10 stades of 330ft or 20 x 20 blocks of 10 x 10 khet of 165ft and each block of 10 x 10 khet (1000 x 1000 cubits) supported 10 x landholder strips of 10 setat so the square division between major canals would support 400 landholder plots or families with each quarter division supporting 100 landholders or familes if the standard 10 setat plot were used.

The division of land into blocks of 10 x 10 khet would be consistent with Inca numerical systems which were decimal and each block of 10 x 10 khet would have contained 10 landholder strips of 10 setat, each of 100 x 100 cubits - under the Inca system, ten workers had a "straw boss" and ten of these groups had a foreman and so on.

So ultimately, it would seem that the "Atlantis" stade used to describe the Plain was a half-furlong of 330ft, and this unit in turn was divided by 2 to give a smaller "stade" or "khet" of 100 "Sumerian" cubits (165ft) which formed the basis of parcels for land distribution.

Inca political organisation ...

Plato's atlantis was likewise divided into 10 kingdoms ...