If each archaeological piece could speak, what story would it tell? Perhaps a painting by San Agustín de Hipona, 1564, would tell how he was looted from a church during the US invasion in 1848 and remained hundreds of years in. Or one to hunt birds, perfectly preserved in a picture with other blinds of its kind, would testify how they came to a person’s house in Texas as part of their personal collection. The history of each piece could form a series of episodes in which archaeological researchers, in the style of the popular series forensics , They solve the case. Or at least they imagine Alejandro Bautista and Elizabeth andion, whose efforts, through the units that represent in (INAH) and the United States embassy in Mexico, respectively, have been given the task of repatriating and archaeological of the country.
Although without the paraphernalia of a whip, his revolver or Nazis who to face, in the style of the phámoso archaeologist and fiction adventurer, the efforts and work of these institutions that represent this tandem, in almost nine years, have managed to get more than 11,000 cultural goods, piece by piece, be returned to Mexico.
The United States, through its embassy in Mexico, has established itself as the country’s main partner in these efforts to stop the plunder. As a result of this collaboration in almost a decade, the repatriation of the statue of Santa Rosa de Lima has been achieved last year, stolen from the Santa Monica chapel, in Epazoyucan, Hidalgo, in 2007; or in 1527, illegally stolen from the General Archive of the Nation in 2021 and repatriated in 2023; OA the archaeological zone of (Morelos), two years ago, after spending at least 50 years on the American border of the, an Olmec piece of more than 2,500 years old.
For Alejandro Bautista, Deputy Director of Registration of Archaeological Monuments of INAH, it represents a lot: thus be a monumental piece – of more than one ton and about 1.80 meters high – such as the Earth’s monster; or a fragment of 20 centimeters of a representation in mud of, the Aztec god of death and the underworld. “Every piece that returns is a fragment like a puzzle. A fragment of our history. Each recovery excites us a lot,” he says from his office and repository in the Coyoacán delegation.
Bautista explains that most deliveries are voluntary. These come from natural persons, museums, galleries and universities. Although some also complements Elizabeth andion, a specialist in cultural affairs of the US Embassy, arrest and monitoring of auctions made by the (Federal Bureau of Investigations, for its acronym in English) and by the Department of National Security.
The anthropologist Adriana Agüero, always with a handling glove by hand – as the entire Baptist team – shows a series of figures from the center that date from the period between 200 and 400 years before Christ, from lots recovered in Texas, Memphis, Tennessee and Dallas. Each of these seized pieces or that are voluntarily returned, he explains, reach the consular offices of Mexico in the different states of the neighboring country. Through high -definition images, these are provided to INAH for distance study and review or, even, sometimes to make an opinion in the same place.
“In this office we carry out an opinion on archeology through the available graphic material. Thus we establish whether it is effectively, a Mexican cultural good. This judgment has to be categorical, because we have to effectively point out why we say that it is Mexican, whether because of its characteristics they correspond to the style, Olmec,, etc., so that it has a validity and can proceed with its repatriation,” Baptist elaborates.
Andion explains that it is also a bureaucratic and cultural management work. All US embassies compete for budgets for preservation and restoration in their countries where they are located. There are almost two million dollars that the US has allocated in Mexico, since 2002 – with funds from the ambassadors program for cultural preservation and the implementation program of the Cultural Property Agreement – to support the capacity of local communities to protect, preserve and recover their cultural heritage.
Some examples of this work are the conservation of the palace and other elements of the classical period on the Mayan site of, in Chiapas, with an investment of $ 500,000 in 2017; Or, more recently, last December, with the restoration of the historic Palacio de Escázaga, in Durango, with an economic aid of 230,000 dollars. Through these financial aid, another factor that has been important is that of awareness and education, through.
Preserve bilateral collaboration
“Not only is it to preserve and conserve heritage, but also through this, the community is trained and involved in all these sites so that they can also take care of their heritage and can benefit, in good sense the word, of them,” explains andion.
The bilateral collaboration, at least in this area, will continue, according to the specialist in cultural affairs of the embassy, although they have been announced from the Trump administration. “All my colleagues in public diplomacy, in the embassy, and I believe that in all agencies, we have had to adjust to different priorities of the new administrations, as well as in Mexico, but we do continue with the funds of the ambassadors program for cultural preservation,” the diplomatic official clarifies.
While Bautista and Miguel Ángel García, another archaeologist of their team, reviews a diplomatic suitcase with 523 arrowheads recovered in Texas, reflect on the progress that the awareness of people has had regarding the care and preservation of cultural goods in Mexico. The Deputy Director of Registration of Archaeological Monuments of INAH sees in the new generations positive advances and awareness in the face of the subject, unlike the people of the past who had an “antiquarian vision” at the expense of promoting looting. “We are certain that this private person knows what can and what should not do with those important collections for the country. So, there has been a positive effect,” says the expert.
The passion for the task of recovering and repatriating is breathing in that INAH office. Even when it is a constant bustle because of the tasks of registering, studying and receiving every good that comes. Although sometimes they do not give them the time to do everything, they admit – smart – that they lack more archaeologists who can do everything, be it a Alejandro Jones o Mike JonesBomean Bautista and García, because there is no fragment of culture and history of Mexico that is less in its importance: “Every piece that arrives has a tremendous history.”
