In 2017, recovery of archaeological pieces triples in Yucatan

Almost 500 pieces were recovered this year by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH)…

MERIDA – This year the delegation of the INAH in Yucatán recovered 417 archaeological pieces through seizures and the voluntary reintegration by some people who owned them. That number triples the 150 artifacts obtained in 2016.

Among the outstanding items recovered was the “Panel of Ichmul”, said the Head of Procedures and Legal Services of INAH, José Arturo Chab Cárdenas.

There are 287 pieces recovered from a family of Canadians in Izamal, and the rest were in several private homes in Mérida. “These pieces don’t have a real value, they are more appreciated by cultural meaning than monetary valuation,” Chab Cardenas said. “The most important of these is Morley’s Ichmul Panel, which is currently on display at the Canton Palace Museum, but was discovered at the Mérida Missión Hotel and was out of the state’s power for more than 50 years.”

Another important figure is “The Dwarf of Tabi” that was recovered from a private house and comes from the hacienda with the same name, which belongs to the municipality of Oxkutzcab. The piece was delivered after the death of the owner of the place, who had a concession to own it, however his relatives gave it to INAH voluntarily.

Many of those pieces are very difficult to recover because the families that “own” them have had them for a long time already, possibly their grandparents acquired them in a time when there wasn’t any regulation on the subject, the official said.

Since their recovery all the pieces are concentrated in the ceramoteca of the Centro INAH Yucatán, where they are studied and preserved.

Source: www.sipse.com/milenio_novedades