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MESOAMERICAN EVIDENCE OF PRE-COLUMBIAN TRANSOCEANIC CONTACTS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1999

Romeo Hristov
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, P.O. Box 750336, Dallas, TX 75275-0336, USA
Santiago Genovés
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas-UNAM, Ciudad Universitaria 04510, México DF, Mexico

Abstract

In this article we discuss the results of the re-examination of a terracotta head of supposed Roman origin found in a pre-Hispanic burial offering near Mexico City. A thermoluminescent age test performed in 1995 at the Forschungsstelle Archäometrie in Heidelberg, Germany, set the age limits of the artifact at 1780 ± 400 b.p., which is consistent with the Roman-origin hypothesis. A review of the circumstances of this discovery did not demonstrate any sign of possible post-Columbian intrusion and permits the acceptance of the object as the first hard evidence from Mesoamerica to support pre-Hispanic transoceanic contacts between the Old and New Worlds.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

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