THE FOREIGN MINISTRY HANDS OVER REPATRIATED ARCHEOLOGICAL AND PALEONTOLOGICAL ARTIFACTS TO THE INAH

• The repatriation was part of a program to recover protected cultural property operated jointly by the Foreign Ministry, the Attorney General’s Office, INAH and INBAL.

• The artifacts were repatriated from various cities in the United States and from Frankfurt, Germany. They were handed over to INAH, as the competent national authority in the field.

The Foreign Ministry handed over to the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) a shipment of archaeological and paleontological artifacts repatriated from various cities in the United States and from Frankfurt, Germany, as part of a program to recover protected cultural property.

Given the high value the Mexican people give to archeological pieces from the ancient Mexican cultures, their repatriation is one of the most important joint programs operated by the Foreign Ministry, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) and the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

Under the protection the Federal Law on Archaeological, Artistic and Historic Monuments and Zones gives to fossils, and because of their scientific importance, measures are adopted daily to protect and recover the nation’s paleontological heritage, as well.

Amongst the articles handed over to INAH is a phytomorphic clay pot from western Mexico, an ammonite of 40 cm in diameter, 830 carefully drilled small snails and 29 beads of serrated and perforated sea snails which presumably formed a necklace.

The pieces and fossils were repatriated thanks to efforts of the Embassy of Mexico in Germany and the Consulates of Mexico in Frankfurt, Germany; Austin and El Paso, Texas; and Albuquerque, New Mexico, and with the direct intervention of the INAH .

The repatriation was part of the program to recover protected cultural property operated jointly by the Foreign Ministry, Attorney General’s Office, INAH and INBAL on an ongoing basis.