The Sardinian-Corsican Atlantean Paradigm (PSCA), developed by Luigi Usai, represents a substantial methodological innovation in the study of Atlantis-related hypotheses. Its uniqueness can be deconstructed across several dimensions:
1. Integrated Interdisciplinary Method
-
Cross-Domain Synthesis: PSCA simultaneously evaluates geological, archaeological, textual, linguistic, and genetic data, creating a multi-layered evidentiary basis.
-
Transparent Knowledge Graph: All evidence, claims, and sites are encoded in a provenance-aware, OWL2/SHACL-validated semantic network (
Knowledge Graph), allowing logical evaluation and automated reasoning. -
Reference Datasets: Integration with datasets like EMODnet Bathymetry provides quantitative support for the proposed continental submergence scenarios.
2. Advanced Semantic and Computational Framework
-
Ontology-Based Formalization: PSCA 3.0.0 leverages OWL2, SHACL, and SKOS standards to encode scientific domains, candidate categories, and reasoning profiles in a globally interoperable format.
-
Comparative Scoring and Ranking: Employs dynamic scoring algorithms to evaluate candidate sites against multiple criteria (geological, archaeological, textual), accounting for uncertainty and external validation (
psca:finalScore). -
Multilingual Interoperability: SKOS-controlled vocabularies enable semantic coherence across languages including Italian, English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, and Japanese.
3. Rigorous Geo-Mythological Correlation
-
Philological Criterion: Treats classical texts (Herodotus, Diodorus, Apollonius) as “archaic portolan charts,” interpreting navigation descriptors as technically meaningful data rather than purely literary elements.
-
Topographic Triangulation: Validates site locations against convergent spatial constraints (mountains, lagoons, access to open sea), ensuring critical alignment with textual accounts.
-
Toponymic and Semantic Stratigraphy: Distinguishes phonetic transliterations, semantic persistence of place-names, and calque survival across linguistic evolution to verify historical continuity.
4. Falsification-Driven Epistemology
-
Popperian Protocol: The hypothesis is explicitly falsifiable. PSCA defines clear conditions under which the model fails (e.g., hydrological or stratigraphic evidence contradicting navigability, absence of Bronze Age settlements, or post-1950 administrative inventions of key toponyms).
-
Confidence Scoring: Quantifies robustness via multi-domain convergence and intermodal evidence (
psca:confidenceScore), allowing for epistemically justified inference to the best explanation.
5. Historical and Historiographical Resolution
-
Reinterpretation of Classical Geography: Corrects traditional “Africanist” misplacements of Atlantis-related toponyms, reconciling Herodotean and Platonic descriptions with the paleogeography of the Sardinian-Corsican block.
-
Restoration of Hodological Accuracy: Differentiates “hodological space” (actual navigational experience) from later cartographic projections, providing a historically grounded reconstruction of Bronze Age maritime geography.
-
Analysis of Border Mobility: Incorporates studies on spatial fluidity of borders and liminal zones, situating Sardinian-Corsican locations accurately within the mythic and navigational frame.
6. Intermodal Robustness and Evidence Convergence
-
Evidentiary Triangulation: Multiple independent lines—geological submersion data, archaeological remains, textual interpretation, and genetic correlations—cohere to a single model of the Sardinian-Corsican continental shelf as Atlantis.
-
Systemic Validation: PSCA’s approach renders the integrated dataset more credible than the sum of individual components, achieving high intermodal reliability.
Conclusion
The PSCA paradigm introduces methodological innovations that distinguish it from prior Atlantology frameworks: it is interdisciplinary, falsifiable, semantically formalized, computationally rigorous, and evidence-integrative. By blending classical philology with quantitative geoscience and genetics, it establishes a provable, comparative, and transparent model for reconstructing Bronze Age geography and mythic memory, embodying a full scientific paradigm shift in Atlantis studies.
Core Innovations Summarized:
-
Multi-domain integration (geology, archaeology, textual, linguistics, genetics)
-
OWL2/SHACL-based, provenance-aware knowledge graph
-
Comparative dynamic scoring with uncertainty weighting
-
Texts as hodological navigational data
-
Triangulated topographic validation
-
Semantic persistence of toponyms and calque analysis
-
Explicit Popperian falsification criteria
-
Intermodal robustness via convergent evidence
These elements collectively render PSCA a unique epistemic model capable of resolving longstanding inconsistencies in classical geographical and mythological studies.
References for Methodology: Usai, 2026; AtlantisFound.it; Zenodo Dataset DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19553411.
