A study led by Romeo H. Hristov of the University of New Mexico is drawing new attention to a long-running mystery that touches on the idea that Romans might have discovered America before Columbus. At the center of the debate is a small terracotta head found in central Mexico in 1933.
Some researchers say the object appears to be Roman and ancient. Critics say the evidence still falls short of proving contact across the Atlantic before Columbus.
Did the Romans discover America first? The artifact keeps debate alive
The artifact was found at the pre-Hispanic site of Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca, about 40 miles northwest of Mexico City. According to excavation records, it came from a burial offering placed beneath three intact floors of a pyramidal structure. The offering also held gold, copper, turquoise, crystal, bone, shell, and pottery. The burial itself was dated to about 1476 to 1510.
That date created the main problem. Classical specialists identified the head as much older than the rest of the offering. Ernst Boehringer argued it was Roman work from the second or third century A.D.
Researchers are revisiting a mysterious find from Mexico that has fueled claims Romans may have arrived in America first. pic.twitter.com/0rG5OLs8KF
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) March 27, 2026
Later, Bernard Andreae, a former director of the German Institute of Archaeology in Rome, also said the piece was clearly Roman in style and likely dated to the second century, during the Severan period.
Tests and expert reviews deepened the artifact mystery
In 1995, a thermoluminescence test in Germany added another layer to the case. The test placed the artifact’s age somewhere between the ninth century B.C. and the middle of the 13th century A.D. That wide range did not prove a Roman date. But researchers said it made a colonial-era forgery far less likely.
Hristov’s review argues that the artifact should not be dismissed as a planted joke or a museum mix-up. He points to excavation notes and later checks of the site that, he says, showed no clear sign that the burial had been disturbed.
He also notes that older objects were sometimes placed inside later Mesoamerican offerings, meaning an ancient piece in a late burial would not be impossible by itself.
The study also revisits one of the strongest objections: that the head may have been inserted later, either during excavation or after the Spanish arrived.
Hristov argues that neither the field report nor the condition of the burial supports that view. He also says stories that the piece was planted as a prank were never confirmed.
One object remains too little to prove Roman contact
Still, the article does not claim the mystery is solved. The so called Roman head remains a single object, not a body of evidence. Even Hristov stresses that the Old and New Worlds developed separately in major ways, including religion, writing, animals, and metals.
His conclusion is narrower: if the head is genuine and correctly identified, it may point to a rare and accidental voyage across the Atlantic with little or no broader impact.
That is why the small artefact still matters. It does not rewrite history on its own. But it keeps open one of archaeology’s most intriguing questions.
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