Recent excavations around the Mediterranean have uncovered Atlantis as a surprisingly advanced and prosperous region of southern Europe that had thriving cities, abundant resources, and total dominance over all other cultures existing at that time.

A discovery of manuscripts and drawings also showed the ultimate Fate of Atlantis. Sadly, a folksy orator by the name of "Bernocles" came along, promising free medical care, free college, and free togas for everyone, and that no one would ever have to do a day of work in their lives, as long as they would vote for him to be the Atlantean Emperor. People couldn't understand how Bernocles could pay for this, but since Bernocles had gotten this far without every doing a day of work in his life, the laziest and least intelligent of them (which was a lot of them) decided they wanted the free stuff and didn't care what happened after they got it.

Atlantean history books from after Bernocles' election are shoddily written and haphazardly recorded, but they show that the Atlantean empire went steeply downhill very quickly. The medical care and colleges all fell apart quickly because the doctors and professors didn't want to work anymore, and Atlantis was easily conquered months later by a small group of wandering Neanderthals. The last entry in the Atlantean history books was actually finished by the Neanderthals, and just says "what a bunch of lazy idiots".