[muawiyah]

Way back when the Atlantic was not as wide (since ocean levels were lower), and aggregate temperatures were lower.

Might have been possible to do all sorts of crazy things with a substantially reduced incidence of hurricanes.

As far as cocaine and tobacco in mummies is concerned, that only "proves" New World expeditions to the Old World, not the other way around. Also proves the dope trade is difficult to erradicate.

[SunkenCiv]

Cradle of Chocolate?
by Roger Segelken
Oct. 8, 1998

Digging through history to a time before agriculture, archaeologists from Cornell University and the University of California at Berkeley have found evidence of a village that was continuously occupied from 2000 B.C. to A.D. 1000 as well as hints to the secret of the community's remarkable longevity.

"My guess is, it all comes down to chocolate," says John S. Henderson, professor of anthropology at Cornell and co-director, together with Rosemary Joyce of Berkeley, of the archaeological dig at Puerto Escondido, Honduras. The type of ceremonial pottery uncovered by the archaeologists points to that region of Mesoamerica as a possible "Cradle of Chocolate."