D.C. girl finds 2,000-year-old Mayan vase at thrift retailer and returns it to Mexico

For 5 years, Anna Lee Dozier had no concept she had an historic Mayan artifact on show at her residence.

The Washington, D.C., girl discovered the ceramic vase in a neighborhood thrift retailer close to a U.S. Air Drive base, and purchased it for $3.99 US ($ 5.48 Cdn). 

“In my work, I journey quite a bit to Mexico, and this merchandise caught my eye as a result of it appeared completely different than the issues on the shelf, but it surely additionally was recognizably from Mexico,” Dozier informed As It Occurs host Nil Oköksal.

“It appeared outdated … however, like, I used to be pondering a 20- or 30-year-old vacationer factor — one thing somebody introduced residence, you realize, from a visit someplace.” 

It seems, it is a 2,000-year-old vase from the center of historic Mayan civilization. And due to Dozier, it’s being repatriated to Mexico. 

‘Congratulations, it’s actual’

Dozier says she stored the vase in a small room in her home that she calls her library — a spot she will hold books and different valued objects the place her kids do not play.

“I now have three little boys and have realized in a short time that placing issues inside their attain is more likely to get them damaged,” she mentioned.

She works for Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a human rights group that promotes freedom of faith, and sometimes travels to Mexico as a part of her job.

On a visit to Mexico Metropolis in January, she was shopping the Nationwide Museum of Anthropology, when one thing clicked.

“As I used to be strolling via, it simply occurred to me that a few of the issues that I used to be taking a look at appeared similar to what I had at residence,” she mentioned.

So she requested a museum workers member what she ought to do if she believed she had a cultural artifact. 

The worker, she says, appeared skeptical, however suggested her to contact the Mexican embassy again residence within the U.S., and they’d take it from there. So that is what she did. 

“In April they contacted me to say that, sure, it was actually one thing actual and really, very outdated,” she mentioned. “[The email] simply mentioned: Congratulations, it’s actual. And we want it again, — in a really good manner. Which is what I had meant.”

A nervous drive with an historic vase

Sergio Aguirre Gamboa, a spokesperson for the Mexican embassy within the U.S., says when Dozier contacted them, it kicked off a process set in place by the Mexican authorities in 2021 to “fight the sale of Mexican archaeological supplies and facilitate dialogue with museums and personal establishments for the restitution of our heritage.”

He says the embassy collected images and details about the vase, and despatched them to the Nationwide Institute of Anthropology and Historical past in Mexico for authentication.

Consultants there recognized the vessel as a painted vase of Mayan origin, from what’s now referred to as southeastern Mexico, relationship again to the Mayan Basic interval, between 200-800 AD.

The embassy organized to have Dozier return the vessel in a ceremony with the Mexican ambassador to the U.S. on the Mexican Cultural Institute in D.C. on Tuesday.

She says she packed it up in a meals supply field, and surrounded it with newspapers for padding. 

“That little 30-minute drive, the entire manner, I used to be simply praying that [there would be] no fender benders, no accidents. Simply get it there in a single piece,” she mentioned.

As soon as there, Ambassador Moctezuma Barragan thanked her returning the artifact. 

“When you could have robust roots, you realize them and also you honour them,” Ambassador Moctezuma Barragan mentioned, in line with NBC affiliate WUSA9. 

“She acknowledged that a complete nation, a complete tradition cares about it, and we’re deeply in gratitude together with her.”

13,500 objects repatriated up to now

The Mayans had been a Mesoamerican, pre-Columbian folks whose civilization spanned what’s now referred to as Guatemala, Belize, southeastern Mexico, and components of western Honduras and El Salvador.

It’s famend for its artwork, structure, arithmetic, calendar, astronomy, and naturally, hand-crafted pottery.

“Ceramic vessels nourished in each life and loss of life: they held food and drinks for each day life, but in addition choices in dedicatory caches and burials, which vary from the only graves to the richest royal tombs,” in line with New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Artwork.

As soon as the vase is again in Mexico, Gamboa says archaeologists will look at it intently to study extra about it, together with whether or not it was a ceremonial vase, or one thing meant for on a regular basis use.

He says it will likely be shipped to the Nationwide Institute of Anthropology and Historical past together with 19 different archaeological items anonymously donated to the Mexican Cultural Institute, and will finally find yourself in a museum. 

Below Mexico’s 2021 laws, he says “all our archaeological, creative, and historic monuments are inalienable and imprescriptible properties of the nation … no matter how these things left the nation or had been acquired.”‘

“By way of co-ordinated efforts and worldwide collaboration, we have now efficiently recovered roughly 13,500 objects of Mexican archaeological and historic heritage from overseas in recent times,” he mentioned.

However Dozier says, even when it had been an choice, she by no means would have thought of promoting or auctioning off the vase.

“It has worth past what you would put cash on. And so for me, it simply was by no means a query. If it was one thing particular, it ought to return to the place it belongs,” she mentioned.

“I really feel very fortunate that I obtained to search out it and have it in my home for a number of years, however now it is going again the place it must be.”