Worth only passing comment is the unprovable collection of theories which, most arising in the last century, strive to connect the Native Americans with the lost tribes of Israel or with the former inhabitants of the mysterious continent of Atlantis. (1) These theories are discounted today, although they had great currency in earlier years, notably before the floor of the Atlantic Ocean was substantially sounded and charted.

For a time, the Sargasso Sea, the great swirl of North Atlantic current in which not only sargasso seaweed but also sailing ships can be becalmed, was thought to be shallow water. In earlier centuries the ocean area was believed to be only a few feet deep and filled with such masses of seaweed that a person could actually walk on the surface. This, some people thought, was surely the site of Atlantis, perhaps at one time virtually a land bridge between Europe and the Americas which sank in a cataclysm eons ago. Since the mapping of the Atlantic basin, it is clear that the floor of this ocean has never been an elevated continent.

In a similar vein, the prophet Joseph Smith in the first half of the 19th century issued the Book of Mormon which traces some native American cultures back to Mediterranean peoples. (2) So far, such statements depend upon divine revelation and not on verifiable fact. This is not to say that such statements might not be literally true, but it does mean that any such theory is not yet rationally provable, is not verifiable by external evidence, and is not capable of being scientifically discussed.

Mermaid of the eighteenth century Institute of Texan Cultures, 84-107

One simply has the choice of believing in such a statement or theory, or not believing, as one wishes. In any case, these theories do not concern those who can be called explorers.