Romans in America

[M. Demetrius]

I believe it! I've seen the picture!

[A_Volpe]

Agricola

And someone left a cavalry sports helmet on Mars.

Nice!!!

[M. Demetrius]

Clearly, those are two different helmets! That's proof of "Cavalry Sport Olympics" on Mars! Wow! That's even more amazing than
well
you know...

[Gluteus Maximus]

Many years ago the archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler wrote a short book called 'Rome Beyond the Frontiers' which I picked up in a car boot sale. He talks about sites on the German Baltic coast, Red Sea and the West coast of India which were trading bases, stating that quite clearly Rome's influence went way beyond its borders. These small ports were not set up by the state itself, but by audacious sailors and traders, albeit Roman or at least coming from the Roman world. Tantalisingly, I have seen no further work on these sites. Occasionally Roman material turns up in places like Finland, Zanzibar and Vietnam, probably as a result of third or fourth hand trade transfer via these extreme outposts. But that I'm afraid is as good as it gets. China and Rome were aware of each others existance, but that was as far as it went - there is doubt as to wether Marcus Aurelius' embassy ever happened.

Of course, nothing is impossible, but if Roman material has been found in the New World in a proper archaeological context, then it was probably through a tortuous trade route, and took place over several decades. In the final stages of the material's journey, the traders probably didn't even know the origin of what they were trading. Unfortunately, Stories of ships found in Brazil etc are all no more than hearsay, with no proper photographs, and very ambiguous finds like the marble 'head' discussed above.