Atlantis of the Sands

Atlantis of the Sands

Atlantis of the Sands is a legendary lost city in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. People also call this place Ūbār, Awbār, Wabār, or Wubār in Arabic. Stories say the city was destroyed by a natural disaster or maybe as a punishment.

The name “Atlantis of the Sands” became well-known in the 1900s because of explorer Ranulph Fiennes and researcher Nicholas Clapp. Some thought explorer T. E. Lawrence might have used the name, but he never wrote about it. Explorer Bertram Thomas was probably the first to use this name.

Some people thought Atlantis of the Sands was the same as a place mentioned in the Quran or the book One Thousand and One Nights. But scholars do not all agree. The idea started when Nicholas Clapp linked the city of Ubar to another lost place called Iram. Many experts still think these are different stories.

Introduction

The story of the lost city of Atlantis has inspired many books, films, and articles. Arabia has its own story about a lost city, called the "Atlantis of the Sands." This story has sparked debates among historians, archaeologists, and explorers.

In 1992, The New York Times reported that explorers found a lost city in the sands of Arabia. They thought it might be Ubar, an important trading place for frankincense thousands of years ago.

The discovery was made by a team led by Nicholas Clapp. They dug near a well in Dhofar province, Oman. They thought this might be Ubar, also known as Iram of the Pillars, a name from the Quran. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who was part of the team, said it could be the Omanum Emporium mentioned in Ptolemy’s map of Arabia Felix.

Even though a sign at the site welcomes visitors to "Ubar, the Lost City of Bedouin Legend," not all scholars agree that this is the real lost city.

Early explorers in Dhofar

In 1930, explorer Bertram Thomas was near the edge of the Rub' al Khali, called "The Empty Quarter." He wanted to be the first European to cross this big desert. His Bedouin guides told him stories about a lost city. They said its people had done bad things and were destroyed. Thomas marked a path on his map that was said to lead to this city, called Ubar, but he never found it.

Other explorers also became interested in the story of this lost city. The famous explorer Wilfred Thesiger visited a well in 1946 and found old ruins nearby. In 1948, a group of scientists found an old fort near a cave. Years later, more discoveries were made, and some thought they had found the ruins of Ubar, an old trading place. Some people believed religious stories that the city was destroyed.

Theories about the location

People have many ideas about where the lost city of Ubar might have been. Some think it was in a place called Dhofar, where an old guide told stories of a city filled with treasure, date gardens, and a red silver fort now hidden under the sands.

Most stories place Ubar in the Rub' al Khali desert, also known as the Empty Quarter. This is a huge area of sand dunes in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, covering parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. An explorer named St. John Philby heard about Ubar from a Bedouin guide, who spoke of ruined castles. Philby searched for the city but found an extinct volcano or possibly an old meteorite impact instead. Scientists later confirmed that an ancient impact caused the depression in the sands.

Another theory suggests that Ubar was located at the Shisr excavation site, where towers were found. An explorer named Nicholas Clapp believed these ruins could be Ubar, but others thought they were much newer.

Explorer Ranulph Fiennes thought Ubar might be the place called "Omanum Emporium" on ancient maps made by Claudius Ptolemy around AD 150.

Different Arab writers had various ideas about where Ubar was, making it difficult to pinpoint a single location.

The Shisr discoveries

Nicholas Clapp began searching for a lost place called Ubar after reading a book named Arabia Felix. He believed an old map might reveal Ubar's location, perhaps along a trade route in the desert. Using satellite images, his team discovered ancient camel paths that guided them to a ruined fort at Shisr.

At Shisr, they dug and uncovered walls and towers more than 2,000 years old. Some people thought this could be the legendary Ubar, while others argued Ubar was a broader region rather than just one city. The team also found items from distant lands, indicating that Shisr had once been a key trading location. Eventually, shifts in trade routes and climate changes caused the area to lose its importance.

Critical reception

Many people in Saudi Arabia were unsure about the discovery of Ubar in Oman. Abdullah al Masri, an important official, said that similar places had been found in Saudi Arabia before. He mentioned a big discovery near Jabreen in 1975 and noted that the name Ubar is similar to Obar, a place in eastern Saudi Arabia.

Some newer research also questions if Clapp’s findings about Ubar are correct. One writer thought Clapp’s book made the story less believable by adding a made-up part about the king of Ubar. Experts have also debated whether Shisr was really an important trading place. Some believe it was a small resting spot for travelers rather than a major city.

Professor Barri Jones said that the important thing is to protect the site, no matter what it is called. A report for UNESCO in 2001 praised the area around Shisr, Khor Rori, and Al-Balid as special examples of old protected towns in the Persian Gulf region.