[general_re]

I think accidental landing is probably the most plausible explanation also. There was a sunken Roman galley discovered off the coast of Brazil some years ago, so there's certainly precedent for such a thing. What seems unlikely is that there was any regular, culturally significant contact between the Old and New worlds in ancient times, the claims of the Afrocentrists notwithstanding.

[blam]

Meet Luzia. This is a reconstruction from the oldest dated skeleton ever found in the Americas (Brazil), 11,500 years old. (Spirit Cave Woman, found on an island off California, will probably top the 11,500 year old Luzia date.)

[Loyalist]

What seems unlikely is that there was any regular, culturally significant contact between the Old and New worlds in ancient times, the claims of the Afrocentrists notwithstanding.

You don't need to give credence to the Afrocentrists' claims to believe that there was much more contact between the Old and New Worlds before Columbus than is generally known.

The evidence is all around North America: Mystery Hill in New Hampshire, the Newport Tower, the Westford rock etchings, castle ruins in New Ross, Nova Scotia; Prince Henry Sinclair's discovery of Nova Scotia and the Micmac Indians' legends of Glooscap; St. Brendan's Navigatio, the Kensington (MN) stone, the Beardmore (ON) Viking relics; the Melungeons, Chinese descriptions of the Grand Canyon and Arizona deserts; Johannes Scolvuss; etc. etc.

[Redbob]

"I think accidental landing is probably the most plausible explanation also."

Of course. The alternative being that a bunch of ancient Romans sat around and said, "Hey, whattaya say we all pile in Bub's galley and sail on over to Texas!"