The Maya site of La Corona/Site Q in the northern province of Peten in Guatemala has long been a target for looters, and the Guatemalan government is keen to get some of even the decontextualised material back. They became aware in 2001 of a classic period (250-900AD) Mayan limestone relief panel (50 cm tall, so quite 'portable') from the site in a private collection in San Francisco, USA. Sadly they could not get it back at the time. The collector died and his accumulated antiquities were flogged off by the relatives to the highest bidder. The panel was put up for auction and what happened next is unclear:
"Guatemalan officials eventually obtained the piece from an auction house that ended up with the panel after the death of the unnamed collector".Did they buy it, was the piece seized and returned, did the auction house and dead man's relatives surrender it when challenged? Anyway the piece is being "repatriated" and once again nobody goes to jail for handling it. They are not even going to name the dead guy, perhaps they feel it would be embarrassing for the relatives if people knew what their dead dad had collected in his lifetime.
Source: ' Mayan Panel Repatriated to Guatemala ', Latin American Herald Tribune, 1st Dec 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment