http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/030921_hi_repatriates_artifacts/feds-return-277-pre-columbian-artifacts-mexico-after-seizure-arizona/
Feds return 277 pre-Columbian artifacts to Mexico after seizure in Arizona
Federal agents returned 277 pre-Columbian artifacts to Mexican officials during a repatriation ceremony Tuesday morning at the Mexican Consulate in Nogales, officials said.
The objects included 10 Chinesco-Western pottery figures that were produced as far back as 500 B.C., and 267 small artifacts, including stone tools like arrowheads as well as small stone carvings that date back even further between 1,000 and 5,000 years.
The objects were recovered as part of two separate investigations launched in Arizona by special agents with Homeland Security Investigations, a part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and were presented to the Mexican Consul General Ambassador Ricardo Santana, and Jose Luis Perea, the director for Mexico's Institute for Anthropology and History, or INAH, in Sonora, Mexico.
Scott Brown, special agent in charge of HSI Phoenix, presented the ancient artifacts to Mexican officials during the ceremony.
"The cultural significance of artifacts from regions around the world extends beyond any monetary value," Brown said. "The pieces, like those discovered, are fragments of history; and it is an honor to return them to their rightful home country," he said. "HSI fully supports the importance of antiquities and cultural property, and it is through these repatriations that new generations are able to experience a part of their nation’s story."
As the investigative arm for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, HSI is the lead agency in investigations involving the illicit distribution of cultural property, as well as the illegal trafficking of artwork, and HSI agents specialize in recovering works that have been reported lost or stolen, said Pitts-O'Keefe. HSI's International Operations operates 80 offices in 53 countries, and works closely with foreign governments to conduct joint investigations, including those in cultural items.
In early January, HSI agents recovered a priceless Buddhist statue from a Phoenix-area home, returning the 500-lb statue of Mahayana Buddhist goddess Cundā to India.
The investigation in the objects from Mexico began in October 2013, when HSI agents in Phoenix were contacted by the director of the Chandler Historical Society, who found the pottery figures during an inventory of the museum's collection, said Brown. The museum's director came across the items, and the review "triggered a bell" that the objects may not be appropriate for the museum's collection, and "could fall into the area of protected cultural property," he said.