The Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca head is a terracotta head, probably originally part of a larger figurine, discovered in 1933 among pre-Columbian

Pre-Columbian

The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...

 or just post-Columbian grave goods

Grave goods

Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods are a type of votive deposit...

 in the Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca

Calixtlahuaca

Calixtlahuaca is a Postclassic period Mesoamerican archaeological site, located near the present-day city of Toluca in the State of Mexico...

 zone in the Toluca Valley

Toluca Valley

Toluca Valley is a valley located approximately 75 km southwest Mexico City. The modern city of Toluca is located there. Other municipalities within valley and part of the Toluca metropolitan area include Metepec, Calimaya, Almoloya de Juárez, San Mateo Atenco, Lerma, Lago, Temoaya, Otzolotepec and...

, approximately 65 kilometers southwest of Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

. Because the head appears to be similar in style to artifacts

Artifact (archaeology)

An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...

 of Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 origin, some believe that it is evidence of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact

Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact

Theories of Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact are those theories that propose interaction between indigenous peoples of the Americas who settled the Americas before 10,000 BC, and peoples of other continents , which occurred before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean in 1492.Many...

 between Rome and America.

An assessment of the case was made in 2001 by Romeo H. Hristov of University of New Mexico

University of New Mexico

The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...

 and Santiago Genovés T. of National Autonomous University of Mexico

National Autonomous University of Mexico

The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México is a university in Mexico. UNAM was founded on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a liberal alternative to the Roman Catholic-sponsored Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (National Autonomous...

.
A thermoluminescence

Thermoluminescence

Thermoluminescence is a form of luminescence that is exhibited by certain crystalline materials, such as some minerals, when previously absorbed energy from electromagnetic radiation or other ionizing radiation is re-emitted as light upon heating of the material...

 test performed in 1995 by P. Schaaf and G.A. Wagner in the FS Archäometrie unit in Heidelberg

Heidelberg

-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

, Germany, established its age range to somewhere between the 9th century BC and the middle of the 13th century AD, confirming its pre-colonial provenance. However, Schaaf and Wagner have objected to the way the dates were described by Hristov and Genoves.

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 AD as its date of origin, based on the hairstyle and the beard.

But other researchers, who have analyzed the artifact, have come up with two additional very different 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 have since died 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 conquistador
  Conquistador
  Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
  
  s without any reference about it in historical tradition in Nahuatl
  Nahuatl
  Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
  
  . Indeed, Moctezuma II
  Moctezuma II
  Moctezuma , also known by a number of variant spellings including Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma and referred to in full by early Nahuatl texts as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520...
  
   was informed very quickly about the Spaniards' arrival in 1518 and the news received very strong attention from Aztec
  Aztec
  The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
  
   nobility. However, Hristov notes that other historians have considered the possibility of a Norse
  Norsemen
  Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...
  
   visit to the region and that the figure bears a possible resemblance to a Norseman or Viking
  Viking
  The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
  
  . Hristov argues that a Roman, Phoenicia
  Phoenicia
  Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
  
  n, or Berber
  Berber people
  Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
  
   ship, or the drifting of such a shipwreck to the American shores is the best explanation. 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 6th or 5th century BC to Tenerife
  Tenerife
  Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
  
   and Lanzarote
  Lanzarote
  Lanzarote , a Spanish island, is the easternmost of the autonomous Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 125 km off the coast of Africa and 1,000 km from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering 845.9 km2, it stands as the fourth largest of the islands...
  
   in the Canaries
  Canary Islands
  The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
  
  , and of a Roman settlement (from the 1st century BC to the 4th century AD) on Lanzarote island
  Lanzarote
  Lanzarote , a Spanish island, is the easternmost of the autonomous Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 125 km off the coast of Africa and 1,000 km from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering 845.9 km2, it stands as the fourth largest of the islands...
  
  .

External links

• Calixtlahuaca's Head by Romeo H. Hristov
• The Calixtlahuaca Head by J. Huston McCulloch