Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca head

The Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca head is a terracotta head, probably originally part of a larger figurine, discovered in 1933 among pre-Columbian grave goods in the Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca zone in the Toluca Valley, approximately 65 kilometers southwest of Mexico City. Because the head appears to be similar in style to artifacts of Roman origin, some believe that it is evidence of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact.

Recent assessment

An assessment of the case was made in 2001 by Romeo H. Hristov (University of New Mexico) and Santiago Genovés T. (National Autonomous University of Mexico).

The site where the head was found seems to be a genuine pre-colonial site undisturbed during the colonial period. A thermoluminescence test performed in 1995 by P. Schaaf and G.A. Wagner in the FS Archaeömetrie unit in Heidelberg, Germany, established its age range to somewhere between the 9th century B.C. and the middle of the 13th century A.D, confirming its pre-colonial provenance. Bernard Andreae of the German Institute of Archaeology in Rome, Italy, who examined photographs of the artifact, stated that he believed that it was Roman and proposed the 2nd century A.D as its date of origin, based on the hairstyle and the beard.

According to researchers who have analyzed the artifact, there are three possibilities:

* A hoax: according to an informal declaration by Paul Schmidt, an archaeologist at UNAM, the head was planted in the site by a participating archaeologist, Hugo Moedano, in an attempt to play a practical joke on José Garcia-Payón, supervisor of the dig. Schmidt moreover stated earlier that Garcia-Payón was not present during the entirety of the excavation. Garcia-Payón’s son insists that his father stated that he was on the site at the time of discovery. According to Hristov, these allegations are hearsay, and because the individuals directly involved are dead a confirmation or refutation of the allegations has become impossible.

* An import from an early European visitor who came to Central Mexico. According to Hristov, it is highly dubious that a European could have come before the conquistadors without any reference about it in historical tradition in Nahuatl. Indeed, Moctezuma II was informed very quickly about the Spaniards' arrival in 1518 and the news received very strong attention from Aztec nobility. However, Hristov notes that other historians have considered the possibility of a Norse visit to the region and that the figure bears a possible resemblance to a Norseman or Viking.

* Travel by a Roman/Phoenician/Berber ship or drifting of such a shipwreck to the American shores at an ancient period. Hristov claims that the possibility of such an event has been made more likely by the discovery of evidences of travels from Romans, Phoenicians and Berbers in the 5th or 6th century B.C. to Tenerife and Lanzarote in the Canaries, and of a Roman settlement (from the 1st century B.C. to the 4th century A.D.) on Lanzarote island.

Other hypothesis

In 1961, Austrian orientalist and anthropologist Dr Robert Heine-Geldern expressed the opinion that the head could have first traveled to Indo-China, then made its way to America through a yet unrecorded transpacific travel.

ee also

* Out-of-place artifact

References

*citation|last=Hristov|first=Romeo H.|year=1994|title=The little “Roman” head of Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca, Mexico: Some reflections|journal=NEARA Journal|volume=28|issue=3–4|pages=68-69|url=http://www.neara.org/CARLSON/romehead.htm
*citation|last1=Hristov|first1=Romeo H.|last2=Genovés T.|first2=Santiago|year=1999|title=Mesoamerica evidence of pre-Columbian transoceanic contacts|journal=Ancient Mesoamerica|volume=10|pages=207–213
*citation|last1=Hristov|first1=Romeo H.|last2=Genovés T.|first2=Santiago|year=2001|title=Reply to Peter Schaaf and Günter A. Wagner’s “Comments on ‘Mesoamerican evidence of pre-Columbian transoceanic contacts’”|journal=Ancient Mesoamerica|volume=12|pages=83–86
*citation|last1=Schaaf|first1=Peter|last2=Wagner|first2=Günter A.|year=2001|title=Comments on “Mesoamerican evidence of pre-Columbian transoceanic contacts” by Hristov and Genovés, in "Ancient Mesoamerica" 10:207–213, 1999|journal=Ancient Mesoamerica|volume=12|pages=79–81
* Smith, Michael E. " [http://www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/tval/RomanFigurine.html The 'Roman Figurine' Supposedly Excavated at Calixtlahuaca] ", accessed December 2007.