Could an ancient, possibly fictitious city be buried under a sand dune in Illinois? Anything is possible, but how likely is this? When there is a perplexing question, science often helps with finding an answer. I will examine what light science can shed on the question.

Science has determined that the North American land mass was near the south pole, approximately 650 million years ago. Approximately 458 million years ago, North America was by the equator. There is evidence of animals and fish existing before this period.

“As the Pacific Northwest comfortably passed through the Paleozoic Era, it witnessed a veritable explosion of life. Off its shores, most of the major groups of animals first appear in the fossil record in the Cambrian Period some 540 million years ago. The first fish appeared in the Ordovician Period, perhaps 500 million years ago. The first plants invaded the land in the Silurian Period, about 420 million years ago. The earliest amphibians showed up in the Devonian Period, perhaps 370 million years ago, while the first true reptiles arrived on the scene in the Carboniferous Period about 320 million years ago. Rocks representing each of these time periods are preserved in Eastern Washington along the ancient marine shelf of Rodinia.^1″

It appears that approximately 305 million years ago, animals, reptiles, plants were all here. The North American land mass was by the equator then. Records of the earliest dinosaur date back to approximately 230 million years ago².

The earliest record of human ancestors was about 6 million years ago³. North America has not moved much from this location. The continent moves approximately 2.5 centimeters a year in a westerly direction ⁴.

Most of the accounts I have read of Atlantis and events causing it to end correspond with plate locations between 237 million and 195 million years ago. However, this is about 200 million years before man started to evolve. How could there have possibly been an advanced civilization here? Again, science provides the most likely explanation.

According to a NBC News article post, published in 2013, “Astronomers using NASA data have calculated for the first time that in our galaxy alone, there are at least 8.8 billion stars with Earth-size planets in the habitable temperature zone.”⁵ Out of the 8.8 billion, exoplanet candidate Kapteyn b was identified in 2014 as the oldest known planet capable of sustaining life. “Astronomers have discovered what appears to be the oldest known alien world that could be capable of supporting life, and it’s just a stone’s throw away from Earth.The newfound exoplanet candidate Kapteyn b, which lies a mere 13 light-years away, is about 11.5 billion years old, scientists say. That makes it 2.5 times older than Earth, and just 2 billion years or so younger than the universe itself, which burst into existence with the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago.”⁶

If humans on earth are on the verge of traveling to a planet in our solar system after 6 million years of existence, imagine our capabilities in another 6 million years. When you consider this in relationship to possible civilizations that are billions of years older than ours, the possibility of an advanced civilization reaching earth and living here 200 million years ago does not seem far-fetched. It seems logical.

1. Burke Museum. Dance of the Giant Continents: Washington’s Earliest History.Retrieved October 14, 2015, 1:22 PM.
2.Dinosauria: Fossil Record. Retrieved October 14, 2015, 1:49 PM.
3. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History: Human Evolution Timeline. Retrieved October 14, 2015, 2:36 PM.
4. USGS. Understanding Plate Motions. Retrieved October 14, 2015, 4:01 PM.
5. NBC News. “8.8 billion habitable Earth-size planets exist in Milky Way alone.” Retrieved November 8, 2019, 12:02 AM.
6. http://www.Space.com “Found! Oldest Known Alien Planet That Might Support Life.” Retrieved November 8, 2019, 12:25 AM.