Editing Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories (section)

==== Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca head ====
{{Main|Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca head}}
A small [[terracotta]] sculpture of a head, with a beard and European-like features, was found in 1933 in the [[Toluca Valley]], {{convert|72|km|mi}} southwest of [[Mexico City]], in a burial offering under three intact floors of a [[Spanish conquest of Mexico|pre-colonial]] building dated to between 1476 and 1510. The artifact has been studied by Roman art authority Bernard Andreae, director emeritus of the German Institute of Archaeology in Rome, Italy, and Austrian anthropologist [[Robert von Heine-Geldern]], both of whom stated that the style of the artifact was compatible with small Roman sculptures of the 2nd century. If genuine and if not placed there after 1492 (the pottery found with it dates to between 1476 and 1510),<ref>Forbes, Jack D. ''The American Discovery of Europe'' University of Illinois Press; 2007 {{ISBN|978-0-252-03152-6}} p. 108</ref> the find provides evidence for at least a one-time contact between the Old and New Worlds.<ref>Hristov and Genovés (1999).</ref>

According to [[Arizona State University]]'s Michael E. Smith, a leading Mesoamerican scholar named John Paddock used to tell his classes in the years before he died that the artifact was planted as a joke by Hugo Moedano, a student who originally worked on the site. Despite speaking with individuals who knew the original discoverer (García Payón), and Moedano, Smith says he has been unable to confirm or reject this claim. Though he remains skeptical, Smith concedes he cannot rule out the possibility that the head was a genuinely buried post-Classic offering at [[Calixtlahuaca]].<ref>Smith, Michael E., "[http://www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/tval/RomanFigurine.html The 'Roman Figurine' Supposedly Excavated at Calixtlahuaca]". Accessed: February 13, 2012. [https://archive.today/20120805122505/http://www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/tval/RomanFigurine.html Archived] at WebCite, February 13, 2012.</ref>