The Consulate General of Mexico in San Francisco reported that this Tuesday, June 29, the Phoebe A. Hearst Anthropology Museum of the Berkeley University, returned 18 archaeological pieces from the pre-Columbian period to the Government of Mexico.
Prior to this procedure, the consulate explained, the pieces were certified by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), determining that 11 pieces correspond to the Teotihuacan style that developed in the central highlands of Mesoamerica, in the classical period, specifically from 200 AD to 600 AD.
He also highlighted that the remaining 7 pieces are of pre-Hispanic manufacture from Mesoamerica. Of these, 2 correspond to the Mexica style dating from 1325 AD to 1521 AD.
The Government of Mexico, represented by the Consulate General of Mexico in San Francisco, recognized and thanked the action as a "friendly and selfless gesture" on the part of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology and the University of California, Berkeley.
"It is worth noting that the Government of Mexico has a priority in promoting international cooperation in order to restore and protect our country's cultural assets, and thus combat the sale and trafficking of our cultural heritage abroad," the consulate said in a statement.
It is worth noting that on June 8, 79 archaeological pieces and two paleontological objects were also handed over to the Mexican government at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles, California.
At the event, the head of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, said: "As you know, it is a priority for Mexico to recover its historical and artistic heritage, and this is a great gesture by American citizens committed to Mexican civilization and who are interested in having these pieces returned to our country, so we are very grateful to you."
Among the goods handed over were objects belonging to the Mayan, Zapotec, and Teotihuacan cultures, as well as the Shaft Tombs tradition and those settled in the Central Highlands, the West, and the Gulf of Mexico.
Particularly noteworthy are the paleontological objects: two plates with printed fish fossils, in the form of cut slabs. Given their morphological and stylistic characteristics, they are two specimens of the Clupeomorpha order, originating from Mexican territory.
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