St. Martin's Press, $26.95

Review by L.D. Meagher

Web posted on: Tuesday, March 30, 1999 5:59:29 PM

(CNN) -- For thousands of years, tales of an ancient civilization that suddenly vanished have been captivating people. About 20 years ago, the story of Atlantis seized the imagination of a British Royal Air Force photo interpreter. He set out to find the fabled lost continent.

"Atlantis: The Andes Solution" is the result of his quest. J.M. Hill is convinced the civilization called Atlantis rose in the Altiplano of the Andes Mountains, located in modern-day Bolivia. He bases his conclusion on a comparison of the Altiplano to the physical descriptions of Atlantis in two books by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.

The Platonic accounts are the touchstone of the Atlantis legend. They are vivid in detail, yet enigmatic enough to provide fodder for generations of researchers. The fundamental question raised by Plato's description of Atlantis is this: Is it true? Hill believes it is not only true, but fairly accurate.

Hill's specialty is analyzing aerial photographs. He has also researched ancient systems of measurement. The two came together when he determined to find out if any place on Earth matched the physical characteristics Plato attributes to the lost city-state.

Atlantis, Plato tells us, was a city constructed of concentric rings, water alternating with land. More interesting to Hill, however, was the description of a plain that surrounded the city itself. Plato writes, "this plain had a level surface and was as a whole rectangular in shape, being 3,000 stades long on either side and 2,000 stades wide..." Since the Greek measurement called a stade, or stadium, was about 600 feet, this plain certainly must be a vast one. Plato says it was surrounded on all sides by mountains.

The largest high-altitude level plain in the world is the Altiplano. It lies among the Andes of western South America, extending from Lake Titicaca to Lake Poopo. It is roughly rectangular in shape. Other details offered by Plato have convinced Hill the Altiplano is the site of ancient Atlantis.

He supports his conviction with other types of evidence. For example, the name "Andes" is a corruption of the native term for the mountains, and the people who lived among them. The original name is "Antis." It means "copper," a mineral found there in abundance. In one native language, the word for water is "atl." Combine water with copper, and the result is "Atl-Antis."

Photo analysis and linguistics can only carry us so far. To look for real evidence that Atlantis existed on the Altiplano, Hill had to go there. He is not an archaeologist, so he didn't set out to find ruins of the lost city. Instead, he was looking for remnants of another remarkable feature described by Plato: a trench or canal that completely circled the plain outside the city. According to Plato, "it was dug out to the depth of a plethum and to a uniform breadth of a stade..." That translates to a trench a hundred feet deep and 600 wide. Hill concluded even the passage of two or three millenia would not eradicate so immense a ditch. Sure enough, he found one, or at least part of one. What seems to be a long canal is visible in aerial photographs of the Altiplano. Hill went there and measured it. It is roughly 600 feet across, matching Plato's description.

Unfortunately, finding an apparent trench 600 feet across seriously weakens Hill's argument instead of strengthening it. Recall that Plato described the plain as a rectangle 3,000 stades long and 2,000 wide. The Altiplano is only half that size. Hill reasons that Plato converted the units of measurement from Egyptian, which he cited as the source of his story, and in so doing used a Greek measurement that is actually twice as long as the original. If Plato's "stade" was in fact 300 feet, the Altiplano fits neatly. Yet if that were the case, then the trench should only be 300 feet wide. Hill's own measurements place it at 600 feet. Hill tries to rationalize the discrepancy, but the fact remains that his theory depends on the accuracy of the Platonic account. He can't rely on Plato to be correct about the width of the trench, but wrong about the size of the plain, when the same unit of measure is used to describe both.

"Atlantis: The Andes Solution" is brimming over with information about the legend and the land Hill believes gave rise to it. Alas, it is not an easy book to read. Hill reproduces the Platonic accounts of Atlantis in their entirety. Yet he offers only hints of his personal experiences in pursuing the truth behind the legends. His brief account of the trip to the Altiplano suggests that it was more than a site survey; it was an adventure. Had he fleshed out the episode, he could have made his book as enjoyable as it is intriguing.

L.D. Meagher is a senior writer at CNN Headline News. He has worked in broadcasting for 30 years.