The United States returned to Mexico a giant stone statue known as the "Earth Beast", dating back to the pre-Christian Olmec civilization, according to what the Mexican authorities announced.

Edited by | Alexander Yanixina 

History Section

3 April2023 - Mexico

     The National Institute of Anthropology and History said in a statement that the finely carved statue weighs more than a ton and is about 1.8 meters long and one and a half meters wide.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard tweeted that Mexico's consul in New York, Jorge Islas, had assured him that "the Olmec statue has been recovered and is about to return to the home from which it was never supposed to come out."

Authorities have reported that around 10,000 pieces have been recovered since 2018 as part of the Mexican government's efforts to salvage the antiquities that were taken out of the country.

The Olmec civilization preceded the Mayan and Aztec civilizations, and its craftsmen were known for their sculptures, which were huge stone heads, statues, and vertical panels.

The institute suggested that the statue was carved between the years 800 and 400 BC.

The institute stated that this piece, known as Monument No. 9 of Chalcatsingo and discovered in the state of Morelos in central Mexico, represents the "earth beast", a creature that often appears in the art of the Olmec civilization.

It is not known when and how the statue was illegally taken from Chalkazingo, but "what is certain is that it was discovered by archaeologist David Grove" in the magazine "American Antiquity" in 1968.

Accordingly, "it is believed to have been in the United States since the second half of the twentieth century," according to the statement, which did not indicate where the US authorities found the piece.