Imagine giving a Cro-Magnon woman a monkey wrench, a computer keyborad, and a TV dinner tray. What would she say about our civilization? Archaeologists have the same problem when they unearth the past. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, ancient mysteries and lost worlds. Debunking the myth of Atlantis, and diving into the murky deep to salvage a ship of gold.

In "Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea," Gary Kinder tells the story of the 1857 sinking of the S.S. Central America with a cargo from the California Gold Rush, and the ship's recovery in the late 1980s. Kinder tells Steve Paulson that the salvage produced hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold, and an incalculable amount of historic and scientific information.

Despite the latest in underwater technology, no-one's found Atlantis. Marine painter, writer and explorer Richard Ellis says no-one ever will: Atlantis never existed. He tells Jim Fleming why the myth has endured. Ellis' latest book is "Imagining Atlantis." Also, Brian Fagan tells Steve Paulson that new and better technology is permitting archaeologists to derive information about ancient religions based on physical artifacts and architecture. Fagan teaches archaeology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and is the author of "From Black Land to Fifth Sun: The Science of Sacred Sites."

Mary Dobson is a medical historian at Oxford University and the author of the "Smelly Old History" series of scratch and sniff books, including "Mouldy Mummies," "Greek Grime" and "Vile Vikings." Dobson tells Judith Strasser that before there were air fresheners, our ancestors spent a lot of time covering up bad smells.

Distribution dates:

• week of 08/09/98 - hour 2
• week of 07/25/99 - hour 2