Paul Dunbavin is a United Kingdom author who specialises in cross-disciplinary research into ancient history and mythology, with a special interest in Atlantis.
Dunbavin in his book Picts and Ancient Britons: An Exploration of Pictish Origins (1998) claims that the Picts are Finno-Ugric immigrants from the Baltic Sea. One of his reasons for drawing this conclusion is that some Scottish river names have appeared in ancient Finnish texts.[1]
Dr Ross Samson wrote, "Paul Dunbavin is no professional academic, but this book resembles books by scholars." He pointed out that Dunbavin's book contains translated extracts of ancient sources and as such should be used as a source-book.[2]
Dunbavin is the author of The Atlantis Researches (1992) first published in UK, subsequently revised and published as Atlantis of the West (2003), in which he places Atlantis in the Irish Sea. Joscelyn Godwin writes that his Atlantean theory involves the earth being struck by a comet in 3100 BC, which in turn caused the Earth's crust to shift, causing various land masses to shrink and rise.[3] Dunbavin claims that the submerged land around the British Isles can be equated with the description of Atlantis by Plato. He claims that the city of Atlantis lies in the Irish Sea between Wales, Scotland and Ireland.[4]
Dunbavin's books on Atlantis have attracted positive comments from pseudohistoric writers who agree with his approach,[5][6] but have not been taken seriously by the scientific community.