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Hundreds of lost pieces returned to the INAH of Mexico

Mexico City, Mexico — Nearly 400 pieces of heritage have arrived in Mexico. The batch of 399 came from France, Chicago, Dallas, Montreal, New York and Vancouver.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture delivered the batch of pieces to the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) earlier this week. The pieces, they said, were recovered through the Mexican embassy in France and the consulates of Chicago, Dallas, Montreal, New York and Vancouver.

It is the result of the joint work of the federal government authorities and the Mexican representations abroad.

The reports, carried out by INAH specialists, confirm that the pieces belong to different cultures and from different periods of the pre-Hispanic era, including western Mexico, the Gulf Coast, the Central Plateau, the Oaxaca region and the Mayan area.

The lots include the recovery of a Mayan clay pot made between 500 and 900 AD (Chicago), a seal depicting a fantastic being made by the Zapotec culture between 200 and 900 AD (Dallas) and an anthropomorphic figure in the Ixtlán del Río style dating between 100 and 700 AD (France).

It also included a double-chambered candlestick in the Teotihuacan style created between 200 and 750 AD (Montreal), a zoomorphic figure of a turtle from the Mesoamerican Postclassic period (New York) and 12 archaeological pieces of various antiquities and areas of the current national territory (Vancouver).

The restitution of cultural objects is the result of the joint work of the federal government authorities and Mexican representations abroad, whose constant efforts to recover the cultural legacy of Mexico to its place of origin have been one of the guiding axes of Mexican foreign policy.

The pieces have been returned through cooperation with local authorities, seizures, suspension of auctions and through negotiations with academic institutions and museums.

The Mexican government reiterates its commitment to indigenous communities, its perseverance with Mexico’s cultural heritage and its conviction in the constant fight against illicit trafficking of cultural goods.