Ancient Romans In Texas?

Science Frontiers online ^ | Nov-Dec 1993 | William Corliss

[Hellmouth]

ANCIENT ROMANS IN TEXAS?

If one searches long enough and hard enough, one can discover hints that just about any ancient culture you care to name set foot in the New World well before the Vikings and Columbus. Old coins, inscriptions, language concordances, and the like are taken by many as proofs that Egyptians visited Oklahoma, the Chinese moored along the Pacific coast, the Celts toured New England, and so on. Now, according to Professor V. Belfiglio, the ancient Romans had Texas on their itineraries.

Belfiglio's evidence is fourfold, and so are mainstream criticisms:

• Roman coins found in Texas. The most convincing example came from the bottom of an Indian mound at Round Rock. This mound is dated at approximately 800 AD. Skeptics suppose that the coin was dropped on top of the mound in recent times and was carried to the bottom by rodents and tree roots. Hmmm!

• The remains of a shipwreck. Circa 1886, the wreck of an unusual ship was found in Galveston Bay. Belfiglio says this ship's construction is typically Roman. Nautical experts doubt this. but they will admit that real Roman craft were perfectly capable of sailing to Texas.

• The remains of an ancient bridge. Also in Galveston Bay, the timbers of an old bridge were found under 15 feet of sediment. A similar divergence of opinion prevails here.

• Language concordances. Belfiglio has pointed out many similarities between Latin and a dialect of the now-extinct Karankawas tribe. No comment here from the language experts.

(Lee, Victoria; "Professor Explores Theory of Romans' Ancient Voyage," Dallas Morning News, June 13, 1993. Cr. T. Adams via L. Farish.)

[TwoStep]

**FYI**

[Cicero]

My response to these sorts of things is to file them away. Unlikely, but few things are absolutely impossible. If they turn up a Roman bath in downtown Galveston while digging a foundation, that would add a bit more weight to the theory.

[Cowman]

Madoc Rules!

[AzJP]

We'll probably never know of the explorers/adventurers that made one way trips, the ones that didn't return triumphantly like Columbus.

I'm told of volunteers that try to match gravestones in western America with families in Europe. Here lies Ollie Olufson, died in a mine shaft explosion 1879, no known relatives and the Olufson family back in Scandinavia never heard what happened to young Ollie who went west to seek a better life.

I think there is a business opportunity there, but darned if I'll go after that one.

Olufson might be do-able, but Romans in Texas? That's tough.

[RightOnline]

.....but did they wear boots and belt buckles the size of dinner plates?

[Bad~Rodeo]

~Ahem~...L~

[blam]

"Madoc Rules!"

We have a plaque here at the mouth of Mobile Bay that commerates Madoc's arrival here in 1170AD.

[blam]

The Legend Of Prince Madoc And The White Indians

[Grut]

Madoc Rules!

The best revenge is living Welsh?

[blam]

The Zuni Enigma

Did a group of thirteenth-century Japanese journey to the American Southwest, there to merge with the people, language, and religion of the Zuni tribe?

For many years, anthropologists have understood the Zuni in the American Southwest to occupy a special place in Native American culture and ethnography. Their language, religion, and blood type are startlingly different from all other tribes. Most puzzling, the Zuni appear to have much in common with the people of Japan.

In a book with groundbreaking implications, Dr. Nancy Yaw Davis examines the evidence underscoring the Zuni enigma, and suggests the circumstances that may have led Japanese on a religious quest-searching for the legendary "middle world" of Buddhism-across the Pacific and to the American Southwest more than seven hundred years ago.

Nancy Yaw Davis holds an M.A. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Washington. Author of numerous articles, she has long researched the history and cultures of the native peoples of North America. Her company, Cultural Dynamics, is located in Anchorage, Alaska, where she lives.

( I read this book. She presents a very convincing story.)

[carlo3b]

"........but Romans in Texas? That's tough.".......

...a...er.......cough,  DUH!
 
 
 
 

By Carlo3b.....Houston Texas
 
 
 
 

[DainBramage]

All hat and no cataloni.

[R. Scott]

Well, the trade winds did blow 2000 years ago.

[blam]

An Ancient North African Treasure Trove In Southern Illinois

[Illbay]

"Bat Creek" Bump.

[DugwayDuke]

I think this has been done before. Didn't Clive Cussler have this in one of the Dirk Pitt novels?

[willyone]

Doe's this mean the Italians get to start opening Casinos in Texas?

[sawsalimb]

lol-glad I read all the way through the thread before pinging you. I was pretty sure you'd seen this-first I've heard of it. Pretty cool.