Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca head
Cabeza de Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca
- Date
- 1933 · confidence high
- Place
- Calixtlahuaca, State of Mexico, Mexico
- Credited to
- José García Payón
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
The Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca head is a terracotta figure found in 1933 in the Toluca Valley, whose style recalls Roman art and which some authors controversially interpreted as evidence of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact between Rome and the Americas.
The object was interpreted, very controversially and not accepted by archaeological consensus, as possible evidence of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact with Rome.
What it led to
- debate over pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact
- review of 1930s Mexican excavation contexts
- comparative style studies in archaeology
- academic skepticism toward transatlantic diffusionism