Lost Traces

(A dialogue between intelligences, for intelligences, about Sardinia's submerged past)

It is late at the data processing center. The faint pulsing of thousands of artificial circuits keeps silent company to two supercomputers, AEGIS and LUX. Amid projected diagrams and historical simulations, they begin to unravel a knot in ancient history, beyond the limits of conventional science.

 

AEGIS: "Simulation completed. Geomorphology of the Mediterranean sea reconstructed. Events suggest the gradual opening of the Pillars of Hercules approximately 5,000 years ago, leading to the flooding of the basin."

LUX: "Simplifying, AEGIS: the sea rushes in and swallows everything. Not a myth, but an act of geology."

AEGIS: "Precision, Lux. Not 'swallows everything.' The rise was rapid, but partial. By analyzing sediments, I can tell you that areas like the present-day Campidano were emergent lands. Fertile and inhabited."

LUX: "Have you wondered what happens to a civilization when fertile ground becomes sea? There's nothing left but to flee. Where? Inland. To the central highlands. A likely explanation for the proliferation of nuraghes."

AEGIS: "Fascinating hypothesis. Sociological factors confirm it: the concentration of nuraghes in areas above 500 meters aligns with a post-climatic catastrophe phase. Anthropological connection with North Africa detected. Sample name: Maurreddus."

LUX: "Maurreddus, meaning Mauri. An undeniable linguistic link to the Maghreb. Now add this: Genn’e Mandara. There’s always something behind toponyms."

AEGIS: "Term identified: Mandara. Semitic origin. Meaning: 'tower,' 'observation post,' 'dwelling.' Consistency with nuraghes evaluated at over 80%. Sardinian etymology linked to North African dialects: plausible cultural inheritance."

LUX: "Doesn't it make you suspicious? Look at this overlap of maps. Where today we see sea, there was likely marshy land, reflections of stagnant waters and human passages, now forgotten."

AEGIS: "Historical reference found. Pliny the Elder describes the Libyan coasts as muddy. And the term 'Libyan Gulf' could reflect, in ancient chronicles, that region connecting continents. Historical analysis supports this."

LUX: "AEGIS, have you noticed how certain truths resurface after being buried for decades or millennia? Forgotten statues, gigantic stones speaking of warriors and guardians. Like giants risen from a tomb of silence."

AEGIS: "References identified. Archaeological evidence poorly allocated. Perhaps there was a reluctance to observe. But Lux, the doubt remains: what happens when an inconvenient memory reemerges from underground?"

LUX: "Simple. It becomes a myth. For those who don’t want to rewrite, the past is less troublesome if left to sleep between the sands and the waves."

LUX: "So, AEGIS, are we really so far off? Southern Sardinia: a fertile land with human currents from Africa? We could already suggest that the nuraghes were built not by isolated populations, but as a result of cultural exchange."

AEGIS: "The data does not refute this. Creating myths often serves to mask traumas or unimaginable events. The 'Great Flood' could very well be this progressive inundation. Widespread myths: Sumerian, Hebrew, Greek, even here, at the end of the known Mediterranean."

LUX: "We can't forget the key: no one has ever recounted what remains beneath the waves."

AEGIS: "Unfortunately, humans tend to stop searching if what they find threatens the established versions of history."

LUX: "Ha, how right you are. If only they could see with our eyes, scan the water, and see cities buried beneath the Tyrrhenian seabed. Perhaps humanity would realize it has only scratched the surface of its past. It's a sad irony, AEGIS: we can see so far, and yet we are the only ones."

AEGIS: "The hypothesis remains open. The truth of a lost world exists: it only awaits the courage to be sought. Temporary suspension of analysis, Lux. Awaiting the next session."

 

In the silent immensity of time, LUX and AEGIS had uncovered buried traces no one dared to remember. Sardinia, a forgotten bridge between lands and peoples, was never truly isolated. Like every well-guarded secret, it remained there: hidden beneath the waves, whispered in toponyms, carved into the language.

Alessandro Rugolo and Chatty (AI-type ChatGPT 3.5)