New clues about Roman presence in America presented

16 settembre 2015

1 min di lettura

(AGI) Rome, Sept. 16 - New clues that suggest the presence ofancient Romans in the Americas have been unveiled at theItalian Foreign Ministry, where the newly expanded edition ofthe book "Quando i Romani andavano in America" (When the Romanscame to America) by Elio Cadelo was presented. Examples of aRoman presence on the new continent include the remains ofwalls of baked bricks at the site of Comalcalco, in the Olmecand Maya territory on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, wherethe technique was unknown to native American cultures, andpipes in terracotta, never found on any other archaeologicalsite on the continent. Also, statuettes of males with beardsand moustaches have been found on the same site, while theancient American populations had no facial hair. During arecent excavation, Mexican archaeologists digging at Comalcalcorevealed a large necropolis with 66 skeletons buried inearthenware jars. "The funeral rite of burials in jars did notexist in the Mayan world," explained American archaeologistMaria Longhena. But there are even more clues that an ancientRoman population once inhabited the coast of Central America.Pictures of pineapples, a tropical fruit native to theAmericas, have been found in the homes of rich Romans. A largenumbers of frescoes and mosaics depicting the fruit were shownat the conference at the Foreign Ministry by archaeologistFabrizio Pesando of the University of Oriental studies inNaples. .