by the El Reportero’s news services
Mexican antiquities recovered.Thousands of Mexican antiquities are scattered around the world, with illegally obtained archaeological items rarely being returned to Mexico.
There are exceptions, such as occurred in August, when a U.S. museum returned three stolen pieces to Mexico.
The pieces are included in an exhibition that opened last week at the National Museum of Anthropology.
The three pieces are “Cabeza de serpiente” (Serpent’s Head), a basalt sculpture from the Early Post-Classic Period (900-1200); “Tlaloc, Dios de la lluvia” (Tlaloc, God of Rain), completed between 200 and 900; and a stele made from basalt rock on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
The sculptures were “torn from their context,” which was “the first damage done from a heritage standpoint by the looting,” National Museum of Anthropology director Antonio Saborit told Efe.
“The context is essential” because archaeologists “not only work on the discovery of a piece, but they are also studying the site where they found it, how it was found, in what direction, to see what it did exactly,” Saborit said.
The pieces were recovered by chance after being stolen and smuggled out of Mexico.
The sculptures ended up in a private collection in the United States that was donated to the University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum when the owner died.
“When the museum started looking at putting together a pre-Columbian exhibition, it contacted the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH, and the specialists noted the nature of the pieces at that time,” Saborit said.
Crazed Justin Bieber Fans out in Force in Colombia to See Pop Idol Perform
Scores of teenagers gathered Monday in front of a Bogota hotel to see Mujerespop idol Justin Bieber, who on Tuesday will give the only concert in Colombia on his Believe Tour.
With cries of “Justin, we love you,” close to 100 teens, mostly girls, waited from the early hours for the star to appear in his hotel window.
Due to the size of the crowd, police fenced off the area around the hotel and about a dozen cops helped security personnel maintain order.
“I’m here to make a dream come true, like we all are, to meet Justin Bieber,” said Deisy Priety, who wrapped her school uniform in a Colombian flag and confessed she skipped classes to see her idol.
Another girl said they would wait until he came out, and that many of them would stay to sleep all night in front of the hotel.
“I come from Aguachica on the coast to see my idol, I love him,” said Laura Linares, while the others shouted the names of their hometowns and told what they had to go through to get to Bogota.
A Venezuelan boy did not hide his pride at having traveled to Colombia to see the artist, adding that others had done just as he did and had come from his country and from Peru. Bieber’s show in Bogota will kick off the Believe Tour in South America, where the Canadian idol is also scheduled to give concerts in Ecuador, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
