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Sunken City · Research only

Samabaj, the Maya Atlantis

Drowned ~250 AD · 16 m, Lake Atitlán, near Cerro de Oro, Guatemala
PROTECTED
Evidence status: Historical tradition. no documented source (historical tradition); legal status unknown (manual verification recommended). This account is presented as historical tradition, not verified fact. Manual verification recommended. Repository evidence: 0 sources · 0 timeline events · 0 media items · legal unknown · view on the Map Evidence on file: historical tradition

Samabaj, the Maya Atlantis: still unexplained.

A pre-Classic Maya island city under a volcanic lake

The law of this ground: Protected by Guatemala with UNESCO, closed to recreational divers; tell its story through the local museums.
The subject
developing the photograph…
The manifest
A pre-Classic Maya island city under a volcanic lake
The account

A diver looking for fishing spots in Lake Atitlán found stone stelae standing in the deep. Samabaj was an island town of the late Pre-Classic Maya, temples, plazas, monuments, until a volcanic event raised the lake and sealed it under fifty feet of water around 250 AD, its ceremonial stones still upright where the water rose over them. UNESCO confirmed it; the lake guards it.

Leads, where the trail points now
  • Pin down the most specific last-known position in the record before going; the search centers on Lake Atitlán, near Cerro de Oro, Guatemala.
  • What you are chasing is A pre-Classic Maya island city under a volcanic lake. Work the documented record of Samabaj, the Maya Atlantis back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore.
  • Protected by Guatemala with UNESCO, closed to recreational divers; tell its story through the local museums.
What the record holds

What remains open

  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
What we know, and what we don't
Established

No documentary claim is yet established. The account rests on tradition.

Still open
  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
The evidence room

No documentary or visual exhibits have been located yet. The trail below and the open leads are where this dossier grows next — every exhibit that enters here carries a source.

Where the trail points now
  • Pin down the most specific last-known position in the record before going; the search centers on Lake Atitlán, near Cerro de Oro, Guatemala.
  • What you are chasing is A pre-Classic Maya island city under a volcanic lake. Work the documented record of Samabaj, the Maya Atlantis back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore.
  • Protected by Guatemala with UNESCO, closed to recreational divers; tell its story through the local museums.
  • Search Library of Congress + DPLA (IIIF) for period cartography of the site.
  • Run Chronicling America for dated newspaper mentions.
  • Query NARA for archival records tied to the site.

Have a source, a map, or a clipping? Add a lead and it enters the record with its citation.

Start the hunt here
The first leads, so no one walks in cold.
Sources and the record
Related case files

The full hunt kit

Starting brief, what's known and disputed, evidence timeline, source list, map card, coordinate-confidence and legal-access summaries, and a field checklist, free with a Fellowship account.

Latest Word From the Newswire

Context, not proof. The dossier's own sources remain the evidence record.

Checking the wire…

Chart position 14.680°, -91.180° (approx.) View on the Map