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- LONDON - History books might
need a rewrite. The Romans may have reached the New World before Christopher
Columbus, reports New Scientist magazine.
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- According to anthropologist Roman Hristov, formerly of
Southern Methodist University in Dallas, a small black terracotta head
unearthed near Mexico City in 1933 is a Roman artifact. This, he claims,
is proof that the Romans arrived before Columbus.
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- According to the magazine, Hristov believes "the
head is the first hard evidence of pre-Hispanic transoceanic contacts between
the Old and New Worlds."
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- The original discovery of the head was well-publicized
but the find remained hidden in a Mexico City museum until Hristov and
a colleague discovered it in 1994.
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- A material from the neck of the object was tested by
scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg.
They estimated it was fired 1800 years ago.
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- Art experts agree it's Roman in nature and date it back
to 200 AD.
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- Archaeologists verified its authenticity because it was
excavated by professionals. David Kelley, an archaeologist at the University
of Calgary in Alberta, told the magazine: "This was sealed under three
floors. It's as close to archaeological certainty as you can get."
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