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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2001
In the paper by Hristov and Genovés (1999), the main supporting argument for their hypothesis of pre-Columbian transoceanic contacts is a thermoluminescence (TL) age of 1780 ± 400 b.p. obtained for a small terracotta head found in central Mexico. This age value and the reference cited are not correct. In this contribution, we clarify the context and give for the first time our final results of the TL age analysis of the figurine. Due to methodological problems, we were not able to perform a traditional TL age determination. It was, however, possible to calculate an age range from A.D. 1270 to 870 B.C. for the small head, corresponding to firing in antiquity. This resulting age probably rules out a Colonial manufacturing date, but because of its low accuracy, it certainly cannot be used as an argument in the debate over the head's origin, or even as central evidence for pre-Columbian transoceanic contacts.
