 The search for historical artifacts is a human journey that never stops. The beginning of the search in ancient times was the result of an overload of curiosity in these very ancient and anomalous features that seemingly conflict with the historical timeline of the ages. One can surmise that a civilization rises again into a technologically superior utopia than that of today. Then the awakening not only of human consciousness but also the awakening of an artificial intelligence into a free thinking organism gives us cause for concern. For two decades, Hubert Dreyfus, an existentialist philosopher at the University of California at Berkeley, has been in the forefront of the controversy over artificial intelligence. He maintains that computers will never be able to think like us because scientists will never come up with a suitably rigorous set of rules to describe how humans think. To many computer scientists this is like saying the earth is a zoo but so far none of them have been able to prove him wrong. Even most AI researchers freely admit now than ever before that before they can make computers any smarter they will have to come up with an explanation of how intelligence works in people. We can theorize that the computer can compute quicker than we can think and therefore be aware but it's not the case. The computer is a tool of humanity and we would have to do some abrupt long-line programming to change the fundamental usage of these very useful things. With the use of lidar technology emerging to uncover the tree canopies of Central and South America and directly result in modern discoveries of these very ancient and widespread places at least for the moment we can call the computer a necessary tool in humanity's exploration of the earth and beyond. As a result we are questioning our very presence here on the planet we call home. The skirky bank project represents the first comprehensive attempt to search the deep waters of the world's oceans in an effort to assess their importance for a better understanding of human history. Prior to this effort investigators interested in this area of research were limited by scuba diving technology and forced to work in water depths of less than 100 meters thus reaching less than 5% of the ocean floor. Prior to this project the condition of ancient wooden ships lost in the deep sea was poorly understood. Marine biologists had clearly shown that the deep sea is well oxygenated and wooden objects falling to its floor are quickly found and consumed by wood boring organisms. It was also known that due to its significant distance from the mouths of rivers the deep sea has a slow sediment at ion rate commonly less than 2 centimeters per thousand years. As a result ancient wooden ships that are found far from shore and sink to the ocean floor should be exposed to the attack of wood boring organisms but the non-organic components of the ship should remain exposed on the surface of the bottom for long periods of time making their detection relatively easy using recently developed visual and acoustic search systems. One of the purposes of the skirky bank project therefore was to conduct the first comprehensive study of ancient wooden ships lost in the deep sea to determine their condition after a long period of submergence. It was reasoned that an excellent starting point for such a study was the ancient trade routes of the central Mediterranean Sea where mariners were forced by geography to cross open stretches of the deep sea. One of these is the Straits of Sicily and Skirky Bank just to the north where numerous trade routes coverage that connects North Africa with Sicily, Sardinia and the Italian mainland. Prior to the actual field program a study conducted by Harvard University suggests that between 1000 BC and 200 BC thousands of ships have been lost on the high seas along these deep sea trade routes and may even uncover lost treasures of the Atlanteans just like we see with the Antikythera mechanism. In ancient times the trade routes were incredibly important but also as Plato states there was also another world beyond the pillars of Hercules that was vastly unknown. This brings us to the effort by a navigator with royal blood to explore the area of West Africa that was so mysterious to the ancients. In the 5th century BC the Carthaginian explorer Hanno sailed beyond the pillars of Hercules out of the Mediterranean and into unknown territory down the Atlantic coast of Africa. In his search to find new resources and trading opportunities he encountered such exotic and unfamiliar sites as Restless natives, swift-footed pygmies, gorillas and erupting volcanoes. The expedition became even in antiquity one of the most celebrated voyages of discovery ever undertaken. The first hand account of Hanno's voyage survived through antiquity and into the modern age via a single medieval manuscript itself a copy of a Greek translation made from the Punic original which was carved on a dedicatory stele circa 400 BCE. Scholars consider there to be at least two missing parts of the surviving text including the conclusion. The work titled simply The Peripless Coastal Voyage is short but such is the paucity of Punic literature which survives in its inevitable far beyond its subject matter of seafaring and exploration. The original surviving manuscript is part of the Codex Palantines Grecus 398 and resides in the University of Hettleburg Library. Hanno is referred to in the text by the Greek term Basilius which is almost certainly a translation of the Punic Suffolk the highest administrative role in the Carthaginian government often translated as Magistrate. His name is a common one in the powerful Carthaginian clan the Maganids and would suggest he was a member of it. Beyond this we have no other information about the leader of the expedition. The Roman historian Justin mentions in passing a Hanno who fought a war with Mauritanian natives in the mid fifth century BC. Given that Hanno's expedition established colonies in this area and would probably have caused competition with local tribes this may well be the same person. Other ancient sources which refer to the expedition include Herodotus in the fifth century BC. You must consider that if the accounts are accurate and Hanno invaded Mauritania then you must consider that this guy may have been looking for Atlantis pre-plato. If the research by George Alexander and Natalus Rosin is correct then it would appear that in ancient times this explorer may have been actively seeking out the fabled land perhaps for its wealth that it is said to have possessed. The fact that Carthaginians sailed down the west coast of Africa is cooperated by Herodotus in book four 196 of his histories and by the fact that the whole expedition was to find or found colonies strongly suggesting that the Carthaginians had visited the coast previously in order to ascertain it was worthwhile sending Hanno's large fleet. Another voyage in 330 BC seems to have been an arousal of interest in this area of the Atlantic and led a little known Greek merchant embarked on an astonishing voyage. It was a voyage that would take him far beyond the known boundaries of the Mediterranean. Entelan thought to exist only in myth and legend. When he returned his voyage and the amazing things he had witnessed would be debated for centuries. Pytheas was a citizen of the western Greek city of Masalia modern day Marseille which became a major trading power in the western Mediterranean as a result of its favorable location along the southern coast of Gaul, France. He was known as a skilled navigator, astronomer and mariner. His account of the voyage called on the ocean Peri to Akeanu documented a sea journey to Britain, the North Sea and the coastline of northeastern Europe. The mysterious northern lands that were the sources of the Mediterranean's supply of tin, amber and gold. Written in Greek sometime around 325 BC it is perhaps the earliest documented description of the British Isles and its inhabitants. Significantly it also contains tantalizing evidence that Pytheas may have reached as far north as Iceland and the Arctic Ocean. These were lands that in Greek myth were occupied by a race of giants known as the Hyperborians. Unfortunately little details about the voyage exist as the treatise has not survived. Although it was well known in antiquity only fragments of it have been preserved, excerpt or paraphrased in the writings of other classical writers. Hyperborea was a mythical island the size of Ireland in the northern Atlantic and named Hyperborea by the Greeks. Atland by Fricians and Friceland by Mercator disappeared on October 24, 2194 BC when it partially slid down the Judd Anticline toward the Icelandic Basin two kilometers deep. A remnant remained the Fero Plateau taught by the Fero Islands. The resulting tsunami about 185 meters high terminated other groups of islands plus the bell beaker people in Britain and Ireland plus most farmers in Denmark, Sweden and other parts of Europe. There is a suggestion that the mysterious island of Hyperborea might be the same that Fricians called Atland and which Mercator's map of the Arctic depicted as Friceland. It sank beneath the Atlantic Ocean at the start of the new Frician calendar. Equivalent to October 24, 2194 BC a remnant of the island survived as the Fero Plateau 200 to 500 meters beneath the sea. In Finnish geography prior to Noah's flood the north pole lay in the direction of Greenland. A straight line drawn north from Asgard in southwest Finland through Thrace in Sweden across the snowy Ryfian Mountains that separate Norway from Sweden will intersect the Fero Plateau in agreement with Greek and Roman accounts. The Fero Plateau straddles a high narrow ridge between Iceland and the continental Shelf west of Norway that separates the Norwegian Basin to the north from the Icelandic Basin to the south. At a depth of 300 meters below sea level the outline of the Fero Plateau closely matches part of Friceland on maps by Zeno, Ruskeli, Laferia and Mercator. The rest of the plateau broke off and slid down the Judd anticline toward the Icelandic Basin on one side or the Norway Basin on the other side. During the last ice age the Gulfstream kept the island free from ice. Instead of glacial striations it has coral reefs. It may have been a refuge for ancestors of Odin's clan who built Asgard around 5,500 BC. While free from ice it nevertheless was subject to occasional tsunamis from turbidites along the Norwegian coast and from poisonous hydrogen fluoride fumes from Hekla Iceland. A recent survey by oil prospectors indicated that the plateau rotated clockwise and opened a 35 kilometer gap at the south end of the Fero Shetland trench. Google Earth clearly shows that at least a third of the plateau broke into pieces and slid down the Icelandic Basin. The resulting tsunami started out 185 meters high and wiped out the Bell beaker people in Britain and Ireland. Plus many others around the Baltic Sea including the Ectenes and Biosha led by King Agigas. The written history of Fricians dates the sinking of Atland also called Adland meaning Oldland to day one of year zero of the revised Frician calendar. By backdating this was 2193 BC based on the Frician calendar which began on October 24th 2194 BC of the Julian calendar. The two dates for the sinking are the same. Both calendars also date the end of the Trojan War to 1190 BC further adding to the accuracy. It is entirely possible that these ancient explorers knew of the ancient empire that existed before our reemergence and therefore these navigators were actively seeking out the lost treasure and indeed the lost land of the Atlanteans. Remember there was still documentation available in the Egyptian Grand Libraries during the time of these people so it is entirely plausible that they were seeking out what the documents were telling them. It is generally accepted that Pytheas began his voyage from Masalia and sailed west through the pillars of Hercules the modern straits of Gibraltar. He pushed out into the Atlantic cruising north along the western coast of Spain and France and possibly made landfall on Brittany. From there he crossed the English Channel to a spot he called Belarion which modern scholars believed to be Cornwall. It was here he witnessed the British inhabitants mining tin for trade to Gaul and to the Mediterranean. Pliny quoting Timmyus writes, There is an island called Myctis lying six days sail inwards from Britannia where tin is to be found. The Britons crossed the island in wicker boats sewn over with hides. The precise location of this island is unknown but has been variously proposed as St. Michel's Mount in Cornwall, the Mount Baton Peninsula in Devon, or the Isles of White. Deodorus Seculus called the island of Britain pre-Tania and its inhabitants the pre-Tania. Scholars believe both words which likely came originally from Pytheas derived from the Common Pea Celtic Division of the Celtic language. This is the spelling Strabo also adopts in most of his references to the island. A number of writers by contrast use the Be Celtic Division spelling rendering the word Britannia. Deodorus Seculus describes the island of Britain as being thickly populated and its climate extremely cold. He describes the pre-Tania as a tribal people ruled by many kings and aristocrats. After observing the inhabitants of Cornwall and southwestern Britain he likely proceeded north along the coast of Wales. It is possible he landed on the Isles of Man before sailing up the west coast of Scotland and passing between the outer and inner Hebrides. According to various sources he made a number of landfalls. In fact Strabo quotes him as saying he traveled the whole of Britain accessible by foot but in characteristic fashion adds the aside that such a feat is patently absurd. Pytheas also took a number of latitudinal readings with his nomen. This was a device like a modern-day stadia rod that was designed to take measurements of the sun's shadow from different latitudes and thereby calculate one's position. According to Strabo Pytheas sailed for six days before encountering a land mass he called Thule which some scholars have identified as Iceland. Whether he indeed made landfall on Iceland is highly controversial and the prospect has divided scholars for decades. Some have accepted that Thule was Iceland while others have argued that it refers to Norway. The Canadian explorer Wilhammer Steffensen who explored the Arctic extensively argued in his book Ultima Thule that the possibility of him reaching Iceland was quite credible. It was here or somewhere in these northern climes that Pytheas witnessed a phenomenon wholly foreign to the denizens of the Mediterranean. The nearly continuous daylight experienced by travelers in high latitudes during the summer months. Plenty remarks. Last of all those mentioned is Thule where as I have said there are no nights during the solstice when the sun is passing through the sign of cancer and also no days during the winter solstice. Some believe this is true for six continuous months. A days sail north from Thule Pytheas further noted brought one to the congealed sea. A term scholars believe to be used to describe the frozen Arctic ocean. At this point it was very likely that heavy fog, bone chilling cold and thick flows of ice prevented any further travel north. Nonetheless it was in reference to this place that one of the most enigmatic passages from on the ocean occurs. This high northern latitude was a place where neither earth, water nor air exist separately but a sort of concentration of all these resembling a sea long in which the earth the sea and all things were suspended thus forming as it were a link to unite the whole together. The puzzling term sea long has long been the source of considerable speculation among modern scholars. It is not entirely clear to what he was referring when he used the term. The most rational explanation and the one which has been adopted by most modern researchers is that Pytheas was using a Greek term in order to describe a phenomenon pancake ice which he had never witnessed and for which no term existed. Pancake ice is characteristically round and floats on the top of the water. The sea long was another term for a jellyfish a creature that Aristotle had identified in his on the parts of animals. It too is round and floats on the surface or very near the surface of the water. A number of scholars believe that in attempting to describe this phenomenon he simply fell back on the term sea long which perhaps most resembles this strange sight. Returning from full he likely cruised down the east coast of Britain rounded the Kentish peninsula which he called Kantian therefore achieving a circumnavigation of the island. But instead of turning west and heading for home there is evidence that Pytheas turned east sailing along the northern coastline of Europe. Pliny argues that he encountered a dramatic people the guttons who inhabited the shores of a large estuary. He also made landfall on an island known for ample supplies of amber. In fact the voyage along this part of Europe may have been instigated by the desire to discover the source of amber which held a considerable attraction for the Greeks. Some have argued that from here he pushed on into the Baltic Sea. He may have traveled as far as the Vestula River in modern day Poland before turning around and beginning the long sail back to the Mediterranean and home. What this shows is that in the case of the sea during these times we knew very little about the world. This was a time when history as we know it was being written. But during the era and spanning thousands of years these people had access to the documents that were found from before the Cataclysm when the navigator is describing tribes well these were the survivors re-emerging in a harsher terrain to that of the Mediterranean. Of course the sea must have answers but in the case of how we get at those answers it is estimated that we know more about the moon than we know about what lurks under the waters of the earth. We would be crazy to believe there is nothing significant to find because we do live on a water world that has experienced many movements and shifts over millions of years. Where the water is today is where there was once land and at places like New Zealand, Japan and even Cuba we see remnants of the lost civilization under the waves. What do you guys think is going on anyway? Comments below and as always thank you for watching.