An Olmec cave mask dating back almost 3,000 years was returned to Mexico in July after an investigation by prosecutors in Manhattan with Homeland Security discovered it had been looted and seized in May. Photo courtesy of Manhattan District Attorney’s Office
Aug. 3 (UPI) — An Olmec cave mask dating back almost 3,000 years was returned to Mexico in July after an investigation by prosecutors in Manhattan with Homeland Security discovered it had been looted and seized in May.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. announced Thursday that the 2,000-pound artifact had been returned to Mexico from where it was looted in the early 1960s. It was not immediately clear if anyone would face criminal charges relating to the sculpture.
Bragg’s office described the mask as “extraordinarily rare” and said it had been crafted as far back as 800 B.C.E. in Mexico. The sculpture depicts the jaguar god Tepeyollotlicuhti with large oval eyes, flaring nostrils and a gaping mouth.
“Representing of the passage to the afterworld, the hulking Olmec Cave Mask guarded the entrance to a ceremonial cave at the archaeological site Chalcatzingo, Mexico,” prosecutors said in the statement.
Bragg said those who had looted the mask from Mexico smashed it into pieces to make the smuggling process easier.
“This incredible, ancient piece is a rare window into the past of Olmec society,” Bragg said.
“After being sent to different museums and private collections across the United States for nearly 60 years, the Cave Mask can finally return to sit with the rest of its companion monuments.”
Jorge Islas López, Mexico’s consul general in New York, thanked Bragg’s office for its efforts and said the mask has returned to “where it rightfully belongs and from where it should never have been removed.”
The sculpture, known as the “Portal to the Underworld” to the people of Mexico, comes from the Olmec Civilization — considered the “mother culture” of many other cultures that appeared in the region in later years such as the Maya and Zapotec, according to Ivan Arvelo — the New York special agent-in-charge for Homeland Security Investigations.
Arvelo said the Olmecs were one of the most influential ancient civilizations of the early Americas, so the historical and cultural significance of this sculpture are “without measure.”
The investigators discovered that after its initial disappearance, the mask was loaned to multiple museums including the renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art, and was most recently sold to a private collector.