Mayan artefacts returned to Mexico and Guatemala
In the course of investigative excavations conducted in November 2020, the Saxony-Anhalt Criminal Police Office unearthed a plastic tank with a volume of one cubic metre which had lain buried under a residential house for fourteen years. Among other things, the tank contained thirteen Mayan artefacts from present-day Mexico and Guatemala, the authenticity of which was scientifically verified.
The artefacts are more than 1,500 years old and bear witness to the advanced culture of the Maya people; two figures are from Teotihuacán near Mexico City, while the other objects, including a drinking vessel, stem from the rain forests of northern Guatemala.
One of the returned Mayan artefacts.
Source: Stefan Kugler
In agreement with the Federal Foreign Office, the relevant state authority for cultural affairs initiated procedures to return the objects to their respective countries of origin (Mexico and Guatemala). In November 2021, the Mayan artefacts were handed over to the Guatemalan and Mexican ambassadors to Germany at a ceremony at the Representation of the State Saxony-Anhalt in Berlin.
Delegation at the handover ceremony at the Representation of the State Saxony-Anhalt in Berlin.
Source: Stefan Kugler