Overview
- Peer‑reviewed studies in 2013 and 2017 identified ancient continental fragments called Mauritia beneath the Indian Ocean using zircon dating and geophysical analysis.
- Researchers found very old zircon crystals, some up to about three billion years old, inside volcanic rock on Mauritius, which shows continental material survives under young lava.
- Scientists are now using gravity inversion and plate‑reconstruction models to map Mauritia’s extent, but its exact size, shape and boundaries remain uncertain.
- Multiple outlets on August 23–24 renewed public interest by linking Mauritia to the 19th‑century Lemuria myth and to fringe claims, yet no archaeological ruins or artifacts have been found.
- The Lemuria story began as a 19th‑century scientific hypothesis and was later reshaped by occult writers; the main consequence now is public confusion rather than new evidence of an ancient civilization.