The United States returned to Mexico 428 archaeological objects from 1600 ADafter they were seized at customs, reported the Ministry of Culture.
Among the pieces are projectile points and scrapers made of flint, shell and bone artifacts, as well as two knives that preserve their original sleeves. Likewise, there is a huarache and a fragment of a petate, in a fair state of conservation.
The set dates from the Late Postclassic period (900-1600 AD) and is associated with desert culturessettled in the north of Mexico and the south of the United States, detailed the deputy director of the Registry of Movable Archaeological Monuments of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), Jaime Alejandro Bautista Valdespino.
“They are representative of semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer communities,” said the archaeologist.
Also, various marine fossils were returned of the genus Exogyra, belonging to the Cretaceous period, with around 60 million years old.
The lot was seized by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP, for its acronym in English), reported the Mexican consul in Portland, Carlos Quesnel, whose office received the goods.
The INAH and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) received the pieces to be transferred to Mexico via diplomatic bag.
The objects will be protected by the INAH and registered in the Public Registry of Archaeological and Historical Monuments and Zones in order to be integrated into museum exhibitions.
Bautista Valdespino called on the population not to participate “in the looting of heritage sites and the illicit trafficking of historical and archaeological goods,” because information on the context of the pieces could be lost.
For her part, the Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Frausto, celebrated the delivery and declared that they will continue to promote the restitution of cultural property.
Reference-aristeguinoticias.com
