# The Richat is the ringed capital of Atlantis, a coastal city destroyed about 11,600 years ago

> Still possible: The Richat Structure is the capital city Plato described: its rings were the city's alternating belts of land and water, it lay near the…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/answers/ANS0DCKSPWFV6KT/the-richat-is-the-ringed-capital-of-atlantis-a-coastal-city  
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[Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Eye of the Sahara and Atlantis](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara)[Is the Richat Structure the place Plato described as Atlantis?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/questions/QST0DCKRC3VMNXB/is-the-richat-structure-the-place-plato-described-as)Answer

Answer · Eye of the Sahara and Atlantis

# The Richat is the ringed capital of Atlantis, a coastal city destroyed about 11,600 years ago

The Richat Structure is the capital city Plato described: its rings were the city's alternating belts of land and water, it lay near the sea on a plain sheltered by mountains to the north, and it was destroyed about 11,600 years ago in the upheavals at the end of the Younger Dryas.

**Still possible** Answers **1** question0

## Where it stands

**Still possible** Four pieces of evidence for, five against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

## What it predicts

- Built remains on or around the structure: walls, harbour works, canals, worked stone, pottery.
- Occupation layers, hearths or burials dated to around 9600 BC.
- Marine sediments or shorelines of that age at or near the structure.
- Ring widths in the proportions Plato gives (3, 3, 2, 2 and 1 stades around a central island of 5).

## What would rule it out

- The rings shown to be natural landforms millions of years older than people.
- Proof that the structure stood far inland and well above sea level throughout the last 12,000 years.
- Survey of the rings and centre that finds no built remains or occupation of the right age.

## Evidence 4 for · 5 against

[Elephants, which Plato gives to Atlantis, are engraved on rocks in the Richat](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCKT0R6AC4J/elephants-which-plato-gives-to-atlantis-are-engraved-on)

Speculative

FOR

[Large rivers ran across western Mauritania in humid periods, as Plato's streams came down to the plain](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCKT1B417EK/large-rivers-ran-across-western-mauritania-in-humid-periods)

Suggestive

FOR

[The Richat's concentric rings resemble Plato's alternating belts of sea and land](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCKSZVY6YJK/the-richats-concentric-rings-resemble-platos-alternating)

Speculative

FOR

[Uplands lie to the north of the structure and open ground to the south, as Plato's plain was sheltered from the north](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCKT09DE770/uplands-lie-to-the-north-of-the-structure-and-open-ground-to)

Speculative

FOR

[No walls, canals, harbour or other remains of a city have been found on or around the structure](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCKT29TSPJF/no-walls-canals-harbour-or-other-remains-of-a-city-have-been)

Supported

AGAINST

[Plato places Atlantis in the Atlantic beyond the Pillars of Heracles, ruling Libya as far as Egypt](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCKT8D9KGFB/plato-places-atlantis-in-the-atlantic-beyond-the-pillars-of)

Supported

AGAINST

[Plato's Atlantis was an island swallowed by the sea; the Richat stands about 485 m up and some 500 km inland](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCKT7THMZK1/platos-atlantis-was-an-island-swallowed-by-the-sea-the)

Established

AGAINST

[The Younger Dryas lasted about 1,200 years and was felt mostly in high northern latitudes](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCKT91HRKXV/the-younger-dryas-lasted-about-1-200-years-and-was-felt)

Supported

AGAINST

[The rings are natural cuestas of an eroded Cretaceous dome, about 100 million years old](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCKT1SXTFBY/the-rings-are-natural-cuestas-of-an-eroded-cretaceous-dome)

Established

AGAINST

## The questions it answers

[Is the Richat Structure the place Plato described as Atlantis?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/questions/QST0DCKRC3VMNXB/is-the-richat-structure-the-place-plato-described-as)

OpenNo answer ahead yet

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). The Richat is the ringed capital of Atlantis, a coastal city destroyed about 11,600 years ago [Answer ANS0DCKSPWFV6KT]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0DCKSPWFV6KT
```

Key

**ANS** 0DCKSPWFV6KT

Kind

Answer · hypothesis

Proposed

[Session 1](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/sessions/SES0DCKZYK2CKXF/session-1-the-eye-of-the-sahara-and-the-atlantis-claim) · 28 Oct 2026

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