The Roman Head from Mexico

[john m roberts]

I hear too much of the "If Vikings could do it, Romans could do it" stuff. There's a world of difference between Scandinavian ships of the 10th century and Mediterranean ships of the 3rd. Even with their eminently seaworthy ships, the Vikings made the trip in relatively short hops from Iceland to Greenland to (probably) Newfoundland. It's a whole other ballgame to sail from the Canaries to Central America. Columbus, in ships of the late 15th century, just barely made it to the Caribbean. His ships were the highest-tech items of their day. Roman vessels were crude by comparison and they lacked even primitive compasses and navigation devices. I'll need a lot more convincing than the occasional terra-cotta beard.