MS Turanor PlanetSolar, a 114-foot-long (35m), 75 foot-wide (23m) sailing vessel, will be the world's largest solar-powered boat. This boat is currently docked at a port in southern Greece and is preparing for an ambitious underwater archeological survey of one of the oldest human settlements in Europe.

By developing a vessel completely based on solar power, the crew of the MS Turanor hope to showcase that green technologies are powerful enough to be used in mapping of submerged region so as to conduct searches for gathering evidences of thousand-year-old farmland and earth-work.

This vessel was conducted jointly by Swiss and Greek scientists. Initially, its aim was to show that it is very much possible to sail around the world on solar power alone. This goal was accomplished back in 2012 when PlanetSolar circumnavigated the globe in just one trip. Now for this new archeological mission, the boat has been given a second lease on life.

"PlanetSolar's second life... offers the crew the pleasure of accomplishing the most diverse kinds of missions", said captain Gérard d'Aboville.

Through this archeological mission, researchers plan to uncover traces of the first European farming communities along with generating evidences of how they spread across the continent. An archeological survey will be taken up in this mission whereby focus will be primarily on the bottom of a bay known as Kiladha, which scientists think was dry land some 9,000 years ago and may contain traces of Neolithic buildings and early farming techniques.

Neolithic period was the New Stone Age that first appeared in Europe during the 7th millennium BC. The year was characterized by primitive agriculture, emergent animal husbandry, and the use of polished stone and flint tools.