Germany’s ‘Atlantis’ is FOUND: Experts discover lost city of Rungholt

For more than half a century, academics wondered if the German town of Rungholt was a “mythical” but fictional settlement much like Atlantis.

Now researchers have shown that the medieval trading port really existed, by locating the remains of the main church under the North Sea.

The experts used magnetic techniques to find the mudflat 130 feet below in North Frisia, the historic region off Germany’s northern coast near the border with Denmark.

The astonishing discovery comes more than 660 years after the city sank in 1362, hit by a storm that the city’s man-made defenses couldn’t keep at bay.

As Christian legend says, the city received the destructive weather from God as punishment for the sins of its inhabitants, thousands of whom died.

At the time of the sinking, North Frisia had a very concentrated population of islands, but many of them went under water after a few hundred years

The discovery was announced by experts from the University of Kiel, the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, the Center for Baltic and Scandinavian Archeology and the State Archeology Department of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany.

The team told MailOnline that the church’s discovery was made just four weeks ago and as such has not yet been described in any investigative journal — though it’s unclear what state of preservation the church is in after 660 years.

‘The find thus joins the great churches of North Frisia’, says Dr. Bente Sven Majchczack, archaeologist at the University of Kiel.

Although known for its “mythically exaggerated destruction” by a storm, it is widely believed that Rungholt was not just a local legend – although some have classified it as akin to Atlantis.

Rungholt has long been referred to as the ‘Atlantis of the North Sea’, referring to the supposed ancient city that was said to have been destroyed and submerged in the Atlantic Ocean.

But unlike Rungholt, scientists generally agree that Atlantis is a myth, invented 2,300 years ago by the Greek philosopher Plato.

According to studies, Rungholt was a wealthy city due to its port status, which probably facilitated trade and overseas connections.

But because of the great wealth, the people became proud and frivolous and lived a life of sin; a group of locals even drank a pug before forcing a priest to give him the final rituals.

To find Rungholt, the researchers used a combination of geoscientific and archaeological methods to locate the church, including magnetic gradiometry

To find Rungholt, the researchers used a combination of geoscientific and archaeological methods to locate the church, including magnetic gradiometry.

This technique, which uses handheld magnets and relies on the Earth’s magnetic field, makes it possible to map archaeological objects submerged in soil or mud.

The team’s techniques recorded a previously unknown 2-mile chain of medieval mounds — artificial mounds intended as safe ground during storms.

One of these mounds shows structures that can “undoubtedly” be interpreted as the foundations of a church between 15 and 40 meters in size, they claim.

A total of 54 mounds have been found in the area, drainage systems, a seawall with a tidal gate harbour, and two sites with smaller churches, as well as the main church.

“The special thing about the find lies in the sense of the church as the center of a settlement structure, which in terms of size should be interpreted as a parish with a superordinate function,” says Dr Ruth Blankenfeldt, archaeologist at the Center for Baltic and Scandinavian Archeology .

Drilling samples and excavations of the mudflats taken on site can provide further insight into the structure and foundation of the sacred building.

A total of 54 mounds have been found in the area, drainage systems, a seawall with a tidal gate harbour, and two sites with smaller churches, as well as the main church. In the photo a sketch illustrating the main features of the coastal environment connected to the medieval dike

Drilling samples and excavations of the mudflats can provide more insight into the structure and foundation of the sacred building

Archaeological objects have already been found around the tidal flats of the nearby island of Südfall, including imported goods from the Rhineland, Flanders and even Spain.

These goods — which were likely in Rungholt when the city sank — include pottery, metal vessels, metal jewelry and weapons, but the new evidence provides more solid proof of the city’s existence.

Now that Rungholt has been found, experts are concerned about the difficulties of preserving the site, which is threatened by erosion.

‘Around Hallig Südfall and in other tidal flats, the remains of medieval settlements are already strongly eroded and often only visible as negative traces,’ says Dr. Hanna Hadler from the Institute of Geography at the University of Mainz.

‘You can also see that very clearly around the location of the church, so we urgently need to intensify the research here.’

Further research could provide scientific evidence about the town’s other buildings and proportions, as well as the life of Rungholt’s residents before they were murdered.