Back in Mexico, ‘Earth Monster’ Sculpture Points to Ancient Beliefs David Alire Garcia - Reuters
go to original May 30, 2023

Known today as the "Earth Monster," the sculpture was likely taken from central Mexico during the 1960s, spending time in the hands of private collectors as well as on public display. (MET Museum)

A massive stone sculpture carved by Olmec artists more than 2,000 years ago that evokes ancient religious beliefs has returned to Mexico after decades in the United States in a homecoming cheered by officials and scholars.

Known today as the “Earth Monster,” the sculpture was likely taken from central Mexico during the 1960s, spending time in the hands of private collectors as well as on public display before being seized by antiquities trafficking agents working with New York prosecutors.

The symbol-laden artifact weighs roughly a tonne (2,200 pounds) and was likely found several decades earlier at the Chalcatzingo archeological site in Morelos state, just south of Mexico City.

U.S. officials coordinated with their Mexican counterparts to repatriate the sculpture last week.

It was carved from volcanic rock sometime between 800-400 BC during the heyday of the Olmec civilization, one of Mexico’s earliest complex societies with sites mostly clustered around the country’s Gulf coast. The Olmecs are well-known for their advanced artistic tradition, including colossal head sculptures.

The artifact depicts a mythological mountain and its stylized cave entrance in the form of a cross, according to Mario Cordova, an Olmec archeologist who traveled to the United States as part of the recovery mission.

The mountain was also made to resemble the head of a jaguar, ancient Mexico’s most fearsome predator, with the cave doubling as its open jaws and the entrance into the underworld.

Some have speculated the sculpture may have been used in ritual acts as a sacred passageway.

Read the rest at Reuters

Related: Pre-Columbian Sculpture Found in Veracruz May Depict Female Ruler (Mexico News Daily)

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