Evidence for history?

Many legends and rumors have some basis in fact. For example, the King Arthur legends are now believed to be based on a king in northern England who, according to Vatican records, was asked by the pope to help fight barbarians attacking Rome. He never made it there because he died in, of all places, a little town called Avalon, France. The legends may fill in some gaps, but more importantly, they show some of the mindset of the real historical people. Also, even if they are legends, we can compare them to real events to see if the solutions provided by them would also work in the current situations. Finally, we wouldn't know if the stories were legend or not unless there was some proof. The Troy of the Greek "legend" was found to be an actual place when it was excavated in the early 20th century, and "Atlantis" may have been based on the Myceans, based on the information being discovered on that civilization (a strong volcanic eruption that caused a tidal wave, wiping out most of a civilization that was highly developed at a time when the Greeks were still living in mud huts).