1800 year old artifact Cheap Mayan souvenir turns out to be an archaeological gem
A woman discovers a cheap souvenir in a second-hand store in the USA. She buys a vessel in the style of Mayan culture and brings it home. Then she gets a surprise.
22.06.2024, 11:44
dpa
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- An American woman paid less than four francs for a Mayan-style vase in a second-hand store.
- Then it turns out that the vase is actually really old - up to 1800 years old.
- Now the woman is returning the vase to Mexico.
A woman from the USA returns a Mayan artifact up to 1800 years old to Mexico. The vessel, which was bought in a second-hand store, turned out to be a genuine piece after being examined by Mexican archaeologists, the Mexican authorities announced. The woman had discovered it on a clearance shelf near Washington five years ago and bought it for 3.99 US dollars (around 3.60 francs) as a suspected replica.
"It looked old, but I thought it was maybe 20 or 30 years old and some kind of tourist reproduction," the woman told US television station WUSA. During a visit to the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City last January, however, she saw almost identical artifacts. An employee of the museum recommended that she contact Mexico's embassy in Washington to verify the origin of her vase. The piece then turned out to be authentic.
Woman returns artifact to Mexico
A total of 20 archaeological artifacts will be returned to Mexico from the US in the coming days, according to the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). In addition to the vase, which according to Mexican experts dates from the years 200 to 800, 19 other valuable objects were returned anonymously. Mexico's cultural authorities have been increasingly committed to the protection of cultural heritage in recent years.
The classic Mayan culture developed in the first centuries after Christ in south-eastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. Archaeological investigations have shown that the cities were abandoned within a relatively short period of time in the 8th and 9th centuries. The possible causes have been debated for decades. The Maya had a complex script, a precise calendar and astronomical knowledge.