[Djarum]

Tiny Roman Bust Shows Pre-Columbian Contact With Mexico (with picture)

'Did Roman explorers discover America 1,300 years ahead of Christopher Columbus' was the headline on page 25 of the DAILY MAIL for Thursday, 10 February 2000. On the same day THE EXPRESS ran a story on page 28 under the banner `Oldest Latin in America: Bust may prove Romans got there first'.

Both stories sought to highlight claims being made in the new issue of the magazine NEW SCIENTIST concerning the recent realisation that a small ceramic head found in 1933 at a site in the Toluca Valley, 72 kilometres west of Mexico City, is in fact Roman in origin.(1) A dating process known as thermoluminescence, which determines the age of ceramics, has found that the tiny bust is approximately 1800 years old. How it might have reached Mexico is the big mystery. The implication, however, is that the head, which shows a full-bearded individual in typical Latin style, was introduced to the New World prior to the age of Columbus.

[blam]

"Tiny Roman Bust Shows Pre-Columbian Contact With Mexico (with picture) "

Thanks, I've read references to this statue a number of times.

[blam]

This is a statue found in an Olmec (1200BC) site being excavated by archaeologists in Mexico

[Cronos]

'Did Roman explorers discover America 1,300 years ahead of Christopher Columbus'

doesn't that conflict witht he date here ? 19Bc versus 200 AD? But then, it could be an occasional tradign trip. But were the Romans so far back in antiquity as the Old Kingdom Egyptians?