They're in no hurry, it is called job
security On the other hand, it is a difficult job.
The science fiction/fantasy writer Sprague De Camp wrote a book on Atlantis, and other fantastic lands such as Lemuria and Mu. He lists all(?) the sources from
antiquity about Atlantis. Everything in them is echoed in the first source, Plato's Timaeus and Critias. The only thing mentioned in any of them that is outside of the Timaeus and Critias is the name of the
Egyptian priest, which could have come from lists that would correspond with the appropriate dramatic date of the story.
De Camp concludes that if you go by Plato's description, there is no location that would be appropriate for Atlantis, and if you are not going by Plato's description, then are you really talking about the same thing? Geologically there is nowhere underwater that would possibly be the site of a sunken continent. I think oceans floors are generally basalt based, where continent's are granite. But don't trust me on that, or in other words, don't take continents for granite<grin>.
But USMC, you are right, it would be nice to have the
library of
alexandria, and that would be one way to look for Atlantis, or what is more important to me than whether Atlantis actually existed, _why_ did
Plato include the stories (remember, both Timaeus and the Critias fragment), if he wasn't giving the straight skinny on it? I don't know why, but one thing to remember is that
Plato was a philosopher, not a historian, and so what
his motivation was in giving the story is something different than that of the historian. Furthermore, it is not
Plato who is saying the Atlantis story, but a character of
his in a dialogue.
I suggest you look up Plato's Timaeus and Critias and go straight to the section on Atlantis, and get it from the horse's mouth, but don't read anything else of the Timaeus, the Timaeus is one of Plato's hardest dialogues, even professors don't 'understand' the Timaeus fully, but only have 'an understanding' of it. And if they say otherwise, they're fibbing. Look at Sprague De Camp's book also, he doesn't like
Plato, but that is okay, he doesn't have to.
Kind Regards,
JBF