NEW YORK, NEW YORK—According to a statement released by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), a missing Olmec sculpture recovered in New York by the Manhattan Antiquities Trafficking Unit will be returned to Mexico. Known as Monument 9 of Chalcatzingo, an archaeological site in Mexico’s central highlands, the sculpture stands approximately six feet tall, is five feet wide, and weighs about one ton. Mario Córdova Tello of the INAH Morelos Center said that the sculpture has been dated to between 800 and 400 B.C. and represents an earth monster, a cosmogonic creature that appears frequently in Olmec iconography. Its open jaws symbolize access to the underworld. The four shapes at the corners of the mouth represent the branches of the bromeliad, a plant typical of the area around Chalcatzingo that is also found on other carvings at the site, he added. “The monument is a key piece for research on Olmec iconography, which is why we receive this news with joy and enthusiasm,” Tello concluded. For more on the site's archaeology, go to "Off the Grid: Chalcatzingo, Mexico."
