That the Greeks knew about America and had contacts with it was claimed before but nowadays the claims comes from several leading Aegean researchers. They supply some amazing details
In 2010 professor I.D. Marialakos ( University of Athens) identified North America as the “great continent” lying west of the island Ogygia of which Plutarch ( 1-2th century AD) speaks in his “Concerning the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon”. ( See references for this revealing paper) .
Recently, Dr. Minas Tsikritsis, a leading researcher of Aegean scripts, has expanded on the claim. His research provides, among other things, a specific year for one of the journeys : 86 AD.
Regarding the research of Dr. Minas Tsikritsis, read more in this article ( maps included):
I am convinced that (some) ancient Greeks knew about the Americas ( and vice-versa). Some may argue that there is ( yet) no archaeological evidence in the form of settlements proving where they stayed exactly but such is irrelevant in the context of visits or geographical knowledge.
References
Prof. I.D. Mariolakos. “ The Forgotton Geographical and Physical-Oceanographic Knowledge of the Pre-Historic Greeks.” Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece, 2010
Proceedings of the 12th International Congress, Patras, May, 2010
Edited by Sander - 13-Oct-2013 at 20:40