It’s alarming for sure Joyce. One thing that’s very real is the lack of security on these national treasures. But INAH simply doesn’t have the funds. It’s all about priorities. Sigh.
Considering how vast the Maya world was and how much they're still discovering, it's understandable that security is lacking ... sad ... but understandable. If the buyers weren't so eager for the plunder, it would help.
Your quote of the archeologist, Victor Segovia “…humans are more poisonous than snakes” ‘tis ever thus. Plundering, ruining and erasing history and art is sickening and we’ve seen it over and over as you say in this article. Breaking it down it has many poisonous layers and many victims—the dire economic circumstances that sometimes fuel the looting, war, greed, of course, apathy, the list goes on and so does the depth of the loss of knowledge, art, history, language. All the lists go on and on and it is truly sickening. This is important information. Thank you for sharing it in your usual enthralling way.
Thanks so much, Lucinda. It really makes my heart hurt that so much has gone—and will continue to go on—missing. At every single site, the lack of security was astounding. These national treasures. But federal funding for the arts and culture which I assume archaeology falls into, is nonexistent. Though rich in oil and minerals, the country is poor. They can’t really help it and the thieves, if not the government, are vigilant.
@Jeanine Kitrchel Thanks for this story. Your perspective of being there brings it alive.. Artifact looters are everywhere and not limited to the locals. I remember being astonished when I read Alma Reed's story about Edward Thompson looting the sacred cenote for the Peabody Museum. Just now learned that the Mexican Supreme Court ruled in his favor years after his death.
(BTW) The book: Passionate pilgrim: The extraordinary life of Alma Reed tells an amazing story of the life of one of the US's first women journalists ... called "sob sisters" at the time.
WIKIPEDIA: Thompson is most famous for dredging the Cenote Sagrado (Sacred Cenote) from 1904 to 1911, where he recovered artifacts of gold, copper and carved jade, as well as the first-ever examples of what were believed to be pre-Columbian Maya cloth and wooden weapons. Thompson shipped the bulk of the artifacts to the Peabody Museum.[11] In 1926, the Mexican government seized Thompson's plantation, charging he had removed the artifacts illegally.[12] The Mexican Supreme Court in 1944 ruled in Thompson's favor.[13] Thompson, however, had died in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1935, so the Hacienda Chichen reverted to his heirs.[14]
Thanks Joyce. Yes, Edward H. Thompson. A piece of work. I previously wrote an article about him and will soon be posting along w/ my other explorers of the Yucatán 'series.' Though there were some explorers on the moral high ground, there were more than a few who took the low road.
There is so much beauty in Mexico. It's sad to read that there are people who want to exploit it for money. You're a great storyteller Jeanine. I could feel like I was on that road trip with you and Paul!
This makes me nauseous in my soul and heart. I will sound naive when I say how can people do this to a culture? I know this happens all over the world by every kind of person for all sorts of reasons. Thank you for this fine but tragic story.
Very welcome. But saddened by the necessity to post it. Unfortunately it’s an ongoing issue. In the many sites I’ve been in, security is often barely existent. It’s not the INAH’s fault. It’s a lack of funding and as mentioned in the post, the thieves are savvy. Also QRoo and Yucatán are far from the mother lode of CDMX, where Teotihuacan exists and even nearby Monte Alban. The Yucatán is young and wild and effusive with pyramid sites. Ripe for the plucking. T’is the way, as explained in the post, of the world.
Very welcome, Karen. It really does hurt my heart to know of the plundering. At Uxmal, a gorgeous site that you may have been at, they constructed nearly every pyramid with facades of Cha’ac, the rain god, who has a long hook facing upwards as his nose. If you go there now, every single effigy of Cha’ac is missing it. Just sad.
Once again, a very exciting, Educational and enthralling, well Written Story which has no end. I can't wait to find out what happened to you guys. I've
Read your book, But the way you are writing it now, is extremely enticing. Love you My friend 💜💙🐈🐈🤗😂🙏
The destruction of culture is a tragedy, but it is also understandable given the ravages of poverty, war and upheaval. (Over the last 45 years of war, Afghanistan, too, has lost an incalculable number of priceless treasures from its past.) Hopefully the trend of museums around the world returning treasures to the countries they were stolen from will continue. And hopefully some day the issues of poverty and war will be solved somehow for all of us.
So true Clarice. I immediately thought of Iraq when all the treasures from their museums were destroyed in the bombing in 2000. And of course, Afghanistan, and Croatia and Ukraine. I saw the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum and chatted up a docent about them, asked if they were in fact going to be returned to Greece. She said that was uncertain. I asked her how she felt about them being in the UK rather than Athens. Her answer was reasonable. She said due to Greece's being ravaged and so often besieged and at war, plus having devastating fires, if they'd remained those 200+ years in Athens, chances are they wouldn't be in the condition they were now in, secure in the British Museum. In fact, they could well be rubble. Not quite but kind of the question Solomon asked the two sets of parents: do you want the baby to survive or should we cut it in half. I had no answer to that.
I wonder if part of the answer isn't in changing attitudes. There is a flavour of superiority in "we'll take better care of them" and in the assumption that these are just valuable "things" and it doesn't matter where they are as long as anyone with access to a museum can see them. It ignores the cultural and personal importance to the living people altogether. (NB: the lawsuits of indigenous peoples to have family bones removed from museums; the fact that Haida totem poles were built to degrade back into the earth instead of standing for our entertainment in a museum)
What if museums that say they value the protection of artifacts (aka pieces of cultural history) helped pay for their protection in their place of origin and collaboratively "rented" them for temporary display where feasible. What if they paid for access to these objects in situ for research purposes instead of paying for them to be looted? I think there are other solutions if we can get outside our own worldview box.
As mentioned, I had no response to the docent's answer to my question. And of course that would be a museum's stock reply. The problem as I see it is museums are funded by, most likely, the very people who have bought-are buying still?- antiquities. Conflict of interest. To their credit, some museums are taking this seriously. Having lived in Hawaii, where outside interests overrule the locals' desires, and Mexico, where there is virtually Zero funding for security of their most prized treasures--pyramids of majestic stature--it's easy to make suggestions as to lawsuits etc. Have you read Hula by Jasmine Iolani Jakes? In it she describes how locals (this I know to be true) are still awaiting the land grant access promised to them so long ago--decades in fact--for their native lands. In writing, all sounds reasonable, but the real world often gets in the way. Also, there are hundreds if not more pyramid sites, say archeologists, still to be located. The jungles are rife with them. If you've never been in a Mexican jungle, not easy to get around in. Imho the outside world is facing down bigger problems right now, not to say antiquities are not important. Let's just say money doesn't easily flow in that direction.
Totally agree. And I know some museums are in the process of returning some "artifacts". Even here in Canada, stolen lands are still waiting for settlements; colonial contracts are still waiting to be fulfilled. The legal funding comes mostly from allies who also provide pressure for government changes in behaviour. The conflict of interest is a huge barrier, in this and many other areas, but IMHO museums are paying for collections anyway and because there is "current reality" doesn't mean we can't hope/push for changes for a different future reality. Not at all intended as criticism of people living that reality who have hard decisions to make every day, just thinking out loud.
Thanks for your comments. It seems that for change to come it has to come from within, from the museum and leadership sides. They hold the cards and unless they decide to relinquish or make arrangements to 'lend back,' change won't happen. In researching this post, Time magazine in Nov. 2023 wrote, "the Prime Minister spent this week arguing about an ancient relic that only a tiny minority of the British public have any interest in (the Elgin Marbles)," stated UK opposition leader Keir Starmer. For antiquities to go back to their homelands, leaders from those countries must interact w/ leaders of the countries who presently house them. It's no simple solution and for that reason believe it's a stalemate unless countries holding them want to do the right thing. All I can do is write about it and bring attention to it in that small way.
Great reporting on this important subject, Jeanine. The economic forces driving the buying and selling of cultural artifacts are too complex for me to pass any sort of judgement on, but the end result is culturally catastrophic and sad. Maybe Lara Croft can make sense of it. What happened to the tuna sandwiches?
Mike, you’re so positive (am I the only person who tells you that?) I’m sure Lara could assist re all. When I researched for book 1 in my narco thriller trilogy I did the deep dive and read everything about the ‘powers that be’ and specifically the next gen in line of succession had (mostly) gone to the best if not Ivy League schools—studied economics/business/tech and emerged not with cowboy hats and Cadillacs but brains the size of Godzilla and new ideas to grab the market. Antiquities command dinero big time. Maybe not in VanGogh or Kahlo terms but big. Plus ‘they’ don’t have to leave home to diversify their holdings. Probably not that that matters these days. IDK but the sites are woefully unsecured and easy to access, with the goods. Just makes me sad.
I struggle to be positive 😉 - but I am decidedly against dinero grabbing, along with most of the modern armchair techniques for manipulating and commanding markets. Capitalism for the sake of capitalism - nothing is beyond trade. Not my cup of tea (or tequila). It is a sad reflection of the ease with which one culture profits off the loses of another.
It’s alarming for sure Joyce. One thing that’s very real is the lack of security on these national treasures. But INAH simply doesn’t have the funds. It’s all about priorities. Sigh.
Considering how vast the Maya world was and how much they're still discovering, it's understandable that security is lacking ... sad ... but understandable. If the buyers weren't so eager for the plunder, it would help.
Definitely. It's a two-sided affair.
Great post, Jeanine! Thank you for sharing so much on the Maya!
Thanks Priya! My pleasure. You know the Maya are my passion!
I like how you tell this story, Jeanine, it is interesting because you mix real experiences with facts about people stealing artifacts. Thanks.
Thanks Tinashe. It was a little surreal at the time.
I love your history stories on the Maya!
Very interesting!
Thank you Marlo. The Maya —my passion. So glad you’re enjoying them.
Your quote of the archeologist, Victor Segovia “…humans are more poisonous than snakes” ‘tis ever thus. Plundering, ruining and erasing history and art is sickening and we’ve seen it over and over as you say in this article. Breaking it down it has many poisonous layers and many victims—the dire economic circumstances that sometimes fuel the looting, war, greed, of course, apathy, the list goes on and so does the depth of the loss of knowledge, art, history, language. All the lists go on and on and it is truly sickening. This is important information. Thank you for sharing it in your usual enthralling way.
Thanks so much, Lucinda. It really makes my heart hurt that so much has gone—and will continue to go on—missing. At every single site, the lack of security was astounding. These national treasures. But federal funding for the arts and culture which I assume archaeology falls into, is nonexistent. Though rich in oil and minerals, the country is poor. They can’t really help it and the thieves, if not the government, are vigilant.
@Jeanine Kitrchel Thanks for this story. Your perspective of being there brings it alive.. Artifact looters are everywhere and not limited to the locals. I remember being astonished when I read Alma Reed's story about Edward Thompson looting the sacred cenote for the Peabody Museum. Just now learned that the Mexican Supreme Court ruled in his favor years after his death.
(BTW) The book: Passionate pilgrim: The extraordinary life of Alma Reed tells an amazing story of the life of one of the US's first women journalists ... called "sob sisters" at the time.
WIKIPEDIA: Thompson is most famous for dredging the Cenote Sagrado (Sacred Cenote) from 1904 to 1911, where he recovered artifacts of gold, copper and carved jade, as well as the first-ever examples of what were believed to be pre-Columbian Maya cloth and wooden weapons. Thompson shipped the bulk of the artifacts to the Peabody Museum.[11] In 1926, the Mexican government seized Thompson's plantation, charging he had removed the artifacts illegally.[12] The Mexican Supreme Court in 1944 ruled in Thompson's favor.[13] Thompson, however, had died in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1935, so the Hacienda Chichen reverted to his heirs.[14]
Thanks Joyce. Yes, Edward H. Thompson. A piece of work. I previously wrote an article about him and will soon be posting along w/ my other explorers of the Yucatán 'series.' Though there were some explorers on the moral high ground, there were more than a few who took the low road.
There is so much beauty in Mexico. It's sad to read that there are people who want to exploit it for money. You're a great storyteller Jeanine. I could feel like I was on that road trip with you and Paul!
Thanks Daniel. Mexico is stunningly beautiful. Sadly it has little funding for the incredible archeological sites within its borders.
Yes it seems that way. Your engaging articles create awareness which is a huge step to helping.
Thank you. I hope that may be true.
This makes me nauseous in my soul and heart. I will sound naive when I say how can people do this to a culture? I know this happens all over the world by every kind of person for all sorts of reasons. Thank you for this fine but tragic story.
Very welcome. But saddened by the necessity to post it. Unfortunately it’s an ongoing issue. In the many sites I’ve been in, security is often barely existent. It’s not the INAH’s fault. It’s a lack of funding and as mentioned in the post, the thieves are savvy. Also QRoo and Yucatán are far from the mother lode of CDMX, where Teotihuacan exists and even nearby Monte Alban. The Yucatán is young and wild and effusive with pyramid sites. Ripe for the plucking. T’is the way, as explained in the post, of the world.
Very sad, Indeed. Thank you for the incisive story and your follow up, Jeanine.
Very welcome, Karen. It really does hurt my heart to know of the plundering. At Uxmal, a gorgeous site that you may have been at, they constructed nearly every pyramid with facades of Cha’ac, the rain god, who has a long hook facing upwards as his nose. If you go there now, every single effigy of Cha’ac is missing it. Just sad.
Once again, a very exciting, Educational and enthralling, well Written Story which has no end. I can't wait to find out what happened to you guys. I've
Read your book, But the way you are writing it now, is extremely enticing. Love you My friend 💜💙🐈🐈🤗😂🙏
Thank you Micheline! Yes, so much to tell in the land of the Maya. Stay tuned!!
Exciting story! Both adventurous and also sad with the realization of what's happening.
It is sad. And Mexico of course is not alone in the looting and loss of their antiquities.
The destruction of culture is a tragedy, but it is also understandable given the ravages of poverty, war and upheaval. (Over the last 45 years of war, Afghanistan, too, has lost an incalculable number of priceless treasures from its past.) Hopefully the trend of museums around the world returning treasures to the countries they were stolen from will continue. And hopefully some day the issues of poverty and war will be solved somehow for all of us.
So true Clarice. I immediately thought of Iraq when all the treasures from their museums were destroyed in the bombing in 2000. And of course, Afghanistan, and Croatia and Ukraine. I saw the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum and chatted up a docent about them, asked if they were in fact going to be returned to Greece. She said that was uncertain. I asked her how she felt about them being in the UK rather than Athens. Her answer was reasonable. She said due to Greece's being ravaged and so often besieged and at war, plus having devastating fires, if they'd remained those 200+ years in Athens, chances are they wouldn't be in the condition they were now in, secure in the British Museum. In fact, they could well be rubble. Not quite but kind of the question Solomon asked the two sets of parents: do you want the baby to survive or should we cut it in half. I had no answer to that.
It's a really complicated issue, with no easy answers.
I wonder if part of the answer isn't in changing attitudes. There is a flavour of superiority in "we'll take better care of them" and in the assumption that these are just valuable "things" and it doesn't matter where they are as long as anyone with access to a museum can see them. It ignores the cultural and personal importance to the living people altogether. (NB: the lawsuits of indigenous peoples to have family bones removed from museums; the fact that Haida totem poles were built to degrade back into the earth instead of standing for our entertainment in a museum)
What if museums that say they value the protection of artifacts (aka pieces of cultural history) helped pay for their protection in their place of origin and collaboratively "rented" them for temporary display where feasible. What if they paid for access to these objects in situ for research purposes instead of paying for them to be looted? I think there are other solutions if we can get outside our own worldview box.
As mentioned, I had no response to the docent's answer to my question. And of course that would be a museum's stock reply. The problem as I see it is museums are funded by, most likely, the very people who have bought-are buying still?- antiquities. Conflict of interest. To their credit, some museums are taking this seriously. Having lived in Hawaii, where outside interests overrule the locals' desires, and Mexico, where there is virtually Zero funding for security of their most prized treasures--pyramids of majestic stature--it's easy to make suggestions as to lawsuits etc. Have you read Hula by Jasmine Iolani Jakes? In it she describes how locals (this I know to be true) are still awaiting the land grant access promised to them so long ago--decades in fact--for their native lands. In writing, all sounds reasonable, but the real world often gets in the way. Also, there are hundreds if not more pyramid sites, say archeologists, still to be located. The jungles are rife with them. If you've never been in a Mexican jungle, not easy to get around in. Imho the outside world is facing down bigger problems right now, not to say antiquities are not important. Let's just say money doesn't easily flow in that direction.
Totally agree. And I know some museums are in the process of returning some "artifacts". Even here in Canada, stolen lands are still waiting for settlements; colonial contracts are still waiting to be fulfilled. The legal funding comes mostly from allies who also provide pressure for government changes in behaviour. The conflict of interest is a huge barrier, in this and many other areas, but IMHO museums are paying for collections anyway and because there is "current reality" doesn't mean we can't hope/push for changes for a different future reality. Not at all intended as criticism of people living that reality who have hard decisions to make every day, just thinking out loud.
Thanks for your comments. It seems that for change to come it has to come from within, from the museum and leadership sides. They hold the cards and unless they decide to relinquish or make arrangements to 'lend back,' change won't happen. In researching this post, Time magazine in Nov. 2023 wrote, "the Prime Minister spent this week arguing about an ancient relic that only a tiny minority of the British public have any interest in (the Elgin Marbles)," stated UK opposition leader Keir Starmer. For antiquities to go back to their homelands, leaders from those countries must interact w/ leaders of the countries who presently house them. It's no simple solution and for that reason believe it's a stalemate unless countries holding them want to do the right thing. All I can do is write about it and bring attention to it in that small way.
All that looting and defacing is atrocious! Another great, important read. Thank you, Jeanine.
Great reporting on this important subject, Jeanine. The economic forces driving the buying and selling of cultural artifacts are too complex for me to pass any sort of judgement on, but the end result is culturally catastrophic and sad. Maybe Lara Croft can make sense of it. What happened to the tuna sandwiches?
Mike, you’re so positive (am I the only person who tells you that?) I’m sure Lara could assist re all. When I researched for book 1 in my narco thriller trilogy I did the deep dive and read everything about the ‘powers that be’ and specifically the next gen in line of succession had (mostly) gone to the best if not Ivy League schools—studied economics/business/tech and emerged not with cowboy hats and Cadillacs but brains the size of Godzilla and new ideas to grab the market. Antiquities command dinero big time. Maybe not in VanGogh or Kahlo terms but big. Plus ‘they’ don’t have to leave home to diversify their holdings. Probably not that that matters these days. IDK but the sites are woefully unsecured and easy to access, with the goods. Just makes me sad.
I struggle to be positive 😉 - but I am decidedly against dinero grabbing, along with most of the modern armchair techniques for manipulating and commanding markets. Capitalism for the sake of capitalism - nothing is beyond trade. Not my cup of tea (or tequila). It is a sad reflection of the ease with which one culture profits off the loses of another.
Asi es.
Another fascinating post, my friend.
Thanks Jennifer!!
Thank you for reading, Lana!!