The Calixtlahuaca Head

[Viggen]

]We need more mystery...

 

apart from if and how it ended up in South America, what do you think of the head, does it look roman to you?

 

http://econ.ohio-sta.../arch/calix.htm

 

 

[Melvadius]

Looked at logically there are several possibilities roughly in ascending order of plausibility:

 

1) A Roman ship somehow blown off course against the prevailing winds for several weeks or actively hunting new lands coming to grief in the America's - seems unlikely

 

2) A Viking ship happening to have the head on board - possibly as a lucky piece of one of the crew - again either comingot grief or possibly used as a trade item during the Viking settlement of Vinland. - Slightly more plausible but still seems an unlikely scenario

 

3) Carried on a Pre-Columbus ship visiting the America's - something which has long been suspected may have happened but for which we have no hard and fast evidence. Why it should have been on the ship is anyone's guess but the head could to my eyes be seen as a European's attempt to depict a sailor of the period rather than necessarily Roman as the style seems to indicate tothe 'experts'. - This is now into the area of just about plausiblity

 

4) Arrived sometime after the Spanish discovery of the America's but stratification of the excavation was not as good as it should have been. Where it originally came from in this scenario is to some extent irrelevant as it could have come in a a number of different ways that we cannot prove or disprove. - Plausibility in this case is heavily reliant on how good or otherwise the original excavation was at keeping tight stratification records and ensuring that no one planted the head as a 'joke'. This scenario is one which depending on the preceeding could widely range between highly plausible or totally unlikely

 

The question marks about the Thermoluminescence dating are a bit concerning given the variability which can care occur in results due to a number of randomising factors and the highest prbablity dates does allow for a wide range of lower probabilities.

 

Of course with any of the above scenarios if the head is actually Roman in origin then a simple process of trade coul dhave passed it from the coast to where it was found and many cultures have a habit of burial with grave goods which include unusual objects which have been 'found' such as fossils or flints as well as ancient heirloooms.

 

Without going into this in a lot more detail my initial inclination is slightly more towards a variant of scenario 2 or 3 than any of the others but I'm open to counter arguments.

 

BTW Hristov seems to have come down on a Viking option as can be read here

 

Any other thoughts?