Read Atlantis and the Silver City for Free Online Page B

original wide mouth at the point of the third submerged cliff, clearly indicating the limit of an earlier coastline. The first part of the riverbed closest to the existing coast appears to have been filled with drifting sand and alluvial deposits; but the old, original bed farther out to sea is clearly shown. This was evidence that the seabed on either side, between it and the current coast, had once been above water. Intriguingly, this old riverbed reached incredible depths compared to the surrounding land: as deep as four thousand feet. Indeed, the map names it the Portimão Canyon.
    A few thousand years ago, there would have been huge volumes of water flowing from it into the sea, as just upstream it was joined by two other, then mighty, rivers. Today, the Arade and one of the other rivers, the Odelouca, are dammed to provide freshwater reservoirs. I assumed that the sheer volume and speed of the flow would have worn this deep chasm in the soft sandstone bed. From later discussions with a local geologist (detailed in a later chapter), it appears that it is a natural geological phenomenon caused by the pressures of that fatal fault line farther out to sea. Not surprisingly, the river found and enlarged it.

( IMAGE 4) The seabed off the Algarve and the Costa de la Luz, showing the extent and ultimate depth of each of the three old plains .
    It had been quite a day, and that submerged settlement might yet provide the first physical evidence. There were lots of pointers indicating that it was certainly worth continuing my inquiries. It was time to ramp up the investigation and examine the history of the area as far back in time as I could trace. Maybe the region’s remote past would throw up more lines of inquiry.

CHAPTER SIX
    Untold Wealth
    “I n the morning the Pagans were led away from the gates of the city in a more disciplined manner; and thereupon, we first saw their enfeebled condition, for instance they were extremely thin and barely walking. Many were crawling, some were held upright by our men, others were lying in the streets either dead or half alive.”
    This quote is from the hand of an anonymous Crusader from Bremen, Germany, who, together with his own countrymen and others from Britain and all over northern Europe, helped the Portuguese king lay siege to the occupying Moors in the Algarve city of Silves. These Crusaders were on their way to reclaim Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Moors in A.D. 1189. The fascinating account furnished by the crusader from Bremen is published in a book written by Jonathan Wilson titled The Siege and Conquest of Silves in 1189 . 17
    While investigating the area’s history, this was the first book I turned to in the hope of finding anything that hinted of an earlier civilization. My intention was to explore chronologically back in time as far as possible, emulating archaeologists who have to dig ever deeper in search of remains.
    Muslim forces had first arrived in the Algarve, as well as across the border in Spain, in A . D . 711. They called their kingdom al-Andaluz andoccupied it for more than five hundred years. The grand capital, Córdoba, soon became the largest in Europe. A hundred thousand citizens thronged the city’s streets, alleys, and bazaars, taking advantage of three hundred public bathhouses and seventy libraries, as well as roads and street lights. Private dwellings had running water and enclosed sewers, while cities like London and Paris were mainly impoverished settlements, consisting mostly of thatched wooden houses, with open sewers.
    By A . D . 1110, another Muslim dynasty, the Almovarids, had invaded and taken over al-Andaluz. From North Africa, this was a fundamentalist federation of Berber tribes from the Sahara. It was eventually overthrown by yet another group of Berbers, the Almohads, mainly from the high Atlas Mountains. By this time, Muslim Portugal was ruled from Seville, in Spain. The capital of the western region, Algarve—called Al Garb by