[NEWS] 17 Pre-Columbian Artifacts Returned to Mexico

February 24, 2022


 

The returned artifacts. (MEXICAN MINISTRY OF CULTURE) 

 

 

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO — Two Dutch citizens have returned 17 Mexican archaeological artifacts after three decades in their possession, the foreign ministry said in a statement Sunday.

The return of the artifacts comes as Mexico works to recover thousands of archeological pieces that had been illegally removed from the country — 6,000 have come back so far, according to official figures.


The couple had the artifacts in their possession for more than 30 years. It was only when De Boer and Mellis visited an exhibition of Aztec artifacts at the Museum of Ethnography in the city of Leiden that they realized how important this cultural wealth was for Mexicans. It’s not clear how the two came into possession of the objects, which include a few small human figurines and which were made between the years 400 and 1521.


The 17 artifacts returned were verified as authentic by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History. During this process, they discovered that the objects came from a variety of Indigenous groups across pre-Columbian history. The artifacts were made by Huastec, Mexica, and Mixtec peoples. These artifacts are not emblems of a lost history—the people who created them have ancestors who still live in Mexico, speak their native languages, and continue to make art.


They were previously certified as authentic by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History and came from multiple regions throughout the country, including along the Gulf coast, the central plains and the southeast. The pieces were made using the modeling, smoothing, incision and pastillage application technique,” the foreign ministry said, referring to craft styles.



Mexico’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says he has COVID-19


President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has called out France for continuing to allow the unregulated sale of cultural heritage items from other countries after a recent sale of archaeological pieces from pre-Columbian Mexico. He also denounced Austria’s possession of a crown of feathers believed to have belonged to 16th-century Aztec emperor Moctezuma which several Mexican governments have sought to have returned.




 


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