>...I am of the opinion that pre-historic man was probably sailing the seas long before the last ice age...<

If the boats shown in last night's prog are anything to go by Gordon you're probably right -

"Most encouraging was the realisation that Inuit people today rely on traditional boat building techniques. 'Unbreakable' plastic breaks in the unceasing cold temperatures whereas boats of wood, sealskin and whale oil are resilient and easily maintained. The same materials would have been available to Solutrean boat builders."*

* http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/columbus.shtml

Yes and look at all those Bronze Age Scandinavian rock paintings http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=a312&file=index&do=showpic&pid=15855&orderby=dateD - high prows just have to mean sea going. That doesn't make the case for trans-Atlantic voyages though.

It's now universally accepted that the Norse were the first Europeans to reach North America, but their legends already told of a land far to the west. When they made contact with the natives, they learned of other white men further to the west who dressed in white robes. Just stories or an echo of something real?