Artifact from Atlantis?

About one year ago someone who wishes to remain anonymous sent me a collection of pictures of an artifact asking me: "Any chance that this is from Atlantis?"

According to him it was found by divers off the coast of Florida more than a hundred years ago. We are talking about the time when divers still wore very heavy helmets and and bulky gear. Auction houses have been unable to determine its value, universities unable to decipher its language inscriptions. After being uncovered by the divers in the Atlantic it found its way to the Museum of Kansas City, where, according to the source, it spent most of its time in a basement, unlabeled and uncategorized. Upon the museum closing it went into the hands of a museum employee, who´s son finally told my contact person about it (the one who showed me the pictures).

As far as I know news and pictures of this have never been published anywhere before. If any reader knows more please comment.

Having been found at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and not bearing any known language indeed suggests a mystery.

What follows are the six pictures in full size so that you can explore the details of the artifact.



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It looks like some sort of art deco inspired Chinese urn with Arabic motifs of some sort. Is it made out of pottery or metal? Is the green patina? Atlantis is such a huge stretch it's as if you are claiming Jesus gave it to Mary for Mother's Day. I reckon it's worth 100-800 bucks if you can find a maker. It's neat but does not have wear consistant with 2,000 years (or whatever) under the sea.

I cant answer those questions, but if a list of questions come up, I´ll foward them to the owner.

The owner claims that auction houses wont tell him what its worth because they dont know what it is.

I thought I´d put it out there for you guys to scrutinize.

Hmm that is very interesting I took a semester of Archeology in college and it has always been an interest of mine. The interesting thing about this piece is not only is it metal it's from the Florida coast. The reason this is weird is mainly because the Indians from Mexico and south America (such as the Mayans and Aztec's) were the only Indians to have practiced metal smithing. The symbols that are the background that look like the square mazes look pretty Mayan to me, but again it's in the wrong location and it's made of metal which is very odd. It could be Spanish but still... I'd take it to a local university and have an Archaeologist/Anthropologist give you their opinion.

reply to post by stikkinikki

It's neat but does not have wear consistant with 2,000 years (or whatever) under the sea.

That's a bit presumptuous considering that the OP hasn't even said what it is made out of.



And to the OP:

That's cool! Starred and flagged.

There are countless artifacts lying around in boxes in many museums, they wont display them because they don't know what they are or who made them.

Museums have guidelines on what to exhibit and what to send to the vaults.
One day the mysteries will be solved.

great pics! thanks for sharing OP!


by the way, to me it looks like chinese in origin, like some sort of torch holder, if the way its depicted is indeed its right orientation, but who knows...

[edit on 23-9-2008 by TheOneEyedProphet]

Remarkable artifacts whatever their origin.. The "find" is what makes it a treasure. The story and speculation make iit more appealing. Think about it.

reply to post by asmall89


We speculated that they might be Mayan (thanks for the hint), but the owner apparently could not get that confirmed.

So we are:


One-eyed-prophet: Museums dont share what they cant label?

[edit on 23-9-2008 by Skyfloating]

what it looks like to me
Looks like it could have been used to hold some kind of giant crystal at a temple, the fire looks like it represents the flame of souls or a melting pot of sprittual significance. Seems as if you would carry this artifact with the giant crystal in it to the great flame to be judge to be acccepted maybe as a ?priest? by the eyes of a higher source(?gods?aliens?)

reply to post by Skyfloating


Yeah I'm definitely clueless, I don't think the Mayans did anything that complex. The symbols look very Mayan to me though. I know someone else mentioned Chinese or Arabic, but how would it have got there? I guess the Spanish could have had it.
Definitely has me

This is certainly cool! Flagged!

From what I gather by just observing the object, is that it is some type of ornamental large candle holder.

You can see this from this first picture clearly, as there is a depiction of a candle on the top part of the object. The next couple photos that show the middle section of the object kind of looks like an ocean's waves, so I could see where Anonymous could see "Atlantis", but it is too hard to be certain. The background of the bottom depiction and middle depiction has squared carvings that loop inward to a point and stop. I've seen these designs before but I'm not sure if they have a name, or where they are from. I think that design may be key to figuring the object out. My best guess is that symbol is from medieval carvings, but I am not sure if that is consistant with the other designs. I don't know much about archaeology I'm just putting in my best guess.

But whether or not there was an Atlantis is skeptical, but certainly there were things that don't exist now that did about 10 thousand years ago. Check this link out for anyone who hasn't heard about this.

Man Made Wall found 30 Meters under sea in Taiwan

firstly he needs to find out what metal its made of if its bronze it could be very old but if its brass its resent, it also needs a good clean and a polish by professional people that specialize in antiques there may be more hint to it under the crud but one thing is for sure it aint gold cause gold doesn't corrode
tell your friend not to approach the Smithsonian with it, they have a very bad reputation for losing artifacts of value if you know what i mean, your friend and the world may never see it again. it may also be a good idea to contact the former owner of the museum and request the original information on who found it, maybe theres a record of where exactly it was found, there might be more of it out there just waiting for some one to find it

There´s another reason my first idea on this was "Atlantis".

It will seem odd, but I´ll share.

I practice a form of meditation/creative-visualization. A few days before I received these pictures out of the blue, I was visualizing Atlantis (my version of it) in my meditation-session for about an hour. This is something I had never visualized before, I did it on a hunch. The person who sent me the pics had no idea I had done that.

A few days later this guy sends me the pictures asking me about Atlantis.

Coincidence? Maybe.

First off I think that the object is upside down. I can see an obvious face in the the clouds on one of the lower pics, it look indonesian or possibly asian. On the above pics I see the face of a bull above what looks to be dragons or possibly dolphins. I think that looking into a few mythology books or even museum collections could figure this guys mystery!

That was my initial reaction. Particularly the lions head. It does appear to be of Mayan origin to me. IMHO

SkyFloating does it again ! I swear you have a knack for some of the most interesting threads. Fine by me though, gives me stuff to think about .

I'm no expert on antiquities nor do I have anything to back me up other than google, but that 'squared relief' that RyanLV pointed out screams greek to me.

example: not the best but you'll get what i mean...

www.installersstore.com...

[edit on 23-9-2008 by spikedmilk]

reply to post by spikedmilk


The border is greek meandros or maiandros. Meander: library.thinkquest.org...

First, I think it is upside down.

Second, the background seems to be a "greek key" motif, or a modified "greek key".

Third, since I think it is upside down, it looks to be a pedestal of some kind.

Dating it....don't know since we don't know what it is made of, whether it has any hallmarks, etc.

I doubt it is that old, though....looks to be in rather good condition.



[edit on 9/23/2008 by skeptic1]