SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO—The Art Newspaper reports that officials from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) handed over 12 pre-Columbian artifacts to the Dominican Republic in a ceremony at the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture in San Juan. The objects were recovered by CBP officers from a passenger on a ferry at the Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, port of entry in 2013. The passenger claimed that the objects, 28 stone and one wooden, were replicas, but archaeologist Laura del Olmo Frese of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture determined that five of the items were artifacts produced by the Taino people of the Dominican Republic. An investigation conducted by HSI determined that they had been acquired through an online auction. To read about Taino and Spanish inscriptions in a cave on the island of Mona, go to "Spirtual Meeting Ground," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2016.
