@artemiscollective: A Roman-style artifact...found in a pre-Columbian Mexican tomb? 🤔 In 1933, archaeologists uncovered a small clay head at a burial site near Toluca dated to before Spanish contact. The object itself, however, resembles Roman imperial portraiture from the 2nd–3rd centuries AD and has been thermoluminescence-dated to the 9th century BCE-13th century CE. So how did it get there? Theories range from early transoceanic contact or shipwreck drift, to long-distance trade networks, to the most widely accepted explanation: a coincidental resemblance to Indigenous Mesoamerican artistry. Mainstream archaeology does not consider this evidence of Roman contact with the Americas, but the debate continues. #ancienthistory #ancientrome #History #HistoryTime #TikTokLearningCampaign
Wouldn’t Roman clay have a unique chemical signature?
2026-03-28 05:15:25
90
Jose Maria :
Maybe a shipwreck. But it is impossible that a Roman made contact and wasn't documented. Because that is why we know so much about the Romans, they made detailed documented records of everything.
2026-03-28 10:24:18
49
larrysiemens :
It could have been owned by a conquistador
2026-03-28 10:47:24
40
Son of a Banker :
Carthage has a longer sailing lineage....
2026-03-28 08:58:02
17
cldbrwszn :
The date range includes years where the Spanish were present…
2026-03-28 10:36:36
1
ArrnaTelrunya333 :
There are reports of traveling to a distant land across the ocean in Greek lore. The current depicted according to history would’ve led it to Hudson Bay. They called it the place of the Giants.
2026-03-28 12:41:49
8
Steppen :
I know it’s unlikely but that would be SO COOL
2026-03-27 23:47:08
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EIRANN_D_ARC :
They went worldwide. In Hawaii,they mined obsidian.
2026-03-28 18:19:40
3
ServantusDei🇻🇦 :
That doesn’t even remotely look Roman
2026-03-28 13:10:13
5
user4629620512399 :
Can’t they determine where it’s from based on the clay it’s made of? I think they could so…
2026-03-29 00:48:32
2
Gerardo Mexicano :
I mean the tomb’s dated window does include the landing of Columbus and Spanish colonization in the Caribbean. It is possible a Spanish adelantado was carrying it and lost it at sea and got carried to the shores, where it became a prized possession of a nahua noble. There’s stories of Spanish shipwrecks and even shipwreck survivors intermingling with Mayans before Cortez’s arrival in Mexico
2026-04-20 06:20:25
2
quique909 :
People already lived here. How do you discover something that has existed for thousands of years
2026-03-28 20:25:07
13
Bryan S :
@Bryan S: I’ve read that it’s a Phonecian sailor. He’s wearing a cap that phonecian sailors would’ve worn and it makes sense. The phonecians were going outside the pillars of Hercules into the Atlantic. If you take the currents across, he would end up in probably the Yucatán Peninsula.
2026-03-30 23:13:22
2
Red pascal :
Vikings
2026-03-29 22:22:01
2
pac19 :
My grandpa brought it there in 1956
2026-04-19 17:40:12
1
WorthTheRisk :
Definitely Roman
2026-03-28 09:41:08
0
🆘🇺🇲🆘-Resist :
Well the Vikings came here prior to Columbus, so who knows.
2026-03-29 02:25:33
3
poppop :
I concur with your assumptions 🤘
2026-03-27 23:48:51
4
DelaOchoa :
Did people discover the new world 30,000 years before the Romans? Yes.
2026-03-30 22:42:09
1
Matt :
You would think they would try to use geologic fingerprinting to determine where the clay used originated from
2026-03-28 12:13:29
2
Ino Eno448 :
Maybe it's Carthaginian?
2026-03-30 11:42:09
1
markus_rufus :
The Traveler? Monument 13😳
2026-03-29 02:09:40
1
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