Posted on 06/19/2021 3:15:14 PM PDT by nickcarraway
On Wednesday, Mexico revealed that it had received 34 pre-Columbian artifacts that were owned by two German citizens. The two citizens, who were not identified but who live in western Germany, contacted the Mexican Embassy in Germany about returning the objects that had been owned by their families. The objects were handed over to the embassy in May.
Over the past few years, conversations around repatriation in Germany have reached a fever pitch. Though those discussions have largely focused on returning objects to Africa, they also spurred people in the country to begin sending back artifacts to other parts of the world.
The objects returned last month come from a vast spread of ancient cultures that once inhabited the lands of present-day Mexico, including ones based along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the Central Highlands, Colima and southern Nayarit, and Mayan lands. Among the objects that were returned are bowls, vases, stamps, and various anthropomorphic sculptures. Those sculptures include a mask in metamorphic rock that most likely comes from the Olmec culture and dates to Mesoamerica’s Preclassic Period (1200–600 B.C.E.) and two heads done in the Totonac style, dating to the Classic period (250–900 C.E.).
During the ceremony announcing the objects’ return, Mexico’s Secretary of Culture Alejandra Frausto Guerrero said, “The brother peoples of Germany and Mexico today give an example that cultural heritage unites us, that respectful dialogue between nations, based on their culture, builds different maps that were normally seen only from a dominant culture toward an ‘other’ [culture].”
Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Relations, added, “It is encouraging and is also the result of the work that has been done by various countries, intellectuals and thinkers, who have insisted on this issue.”
Ping
Neolithic crap art. Hunter could do better.
We have about 30 million Mexicans living in America I would love to return home.
On a similar line I remember the Pentagon returning some Nazi art confiscated after WW2. Spoils of war. I only wish they could have displayed them at some US museums along the way
Can we return all the Communists to Russia?
So, who owns the famous Crystal Skulls and are they fake or not.
Gosh, Free Republic is a tough crowd.
Some of that stuff is worth a fortune today. Back in the 50’s my father had a business client who used to travel South and Central America and collect pieces of it.
He asked my father if he’d like him to pick up a few pieces for him but dad thought it was junk and declined.
In return Mexico sent kilos of cocaine, heroin and meth.
Anything like the Acámbaro Dinosaur statues? 33,000 figurines. Someone had to get clay, make them and fire them.
https://mexicounexplained.com/ancient-dinosaur-figurines-acambaro/
Yup, someone in modern times, obviously.
At least the Germans have the satisfaction of knowing that they managed to beat Indiana Jones a few times ...
In the summer of 1969 after I got out of the army, I flew from NY to Keene NH and spent an afternoon with Charles Hapgood. I was most interested in his book The Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings, but our discussion ranged widely. He talked of his other book, The Earth’s Shifting Crust, as well as these Acamboro figurines, and his own discussions with Albert Einstein, Ivan T. Sanderson, John Keel, and about ESP and reincarnation or recollection of past lives. It was truly an inspirational afternoon. As a young man, I pondered chasing some of these enigmas as a life’s work. But in the end I settled for a rather ordinary career. As an old man I wonder what could have been.
Thanks FreedomPoster.
German wife: Get these ugly dust catchers out of here!......................
I’ve been to Mexico. They sell junk like this to tourists on the side of the roads. Kinda like the joke about ‘old Indian’ arrowheads................
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
