Stolen artifacts returning to Mexico from Seattle

SEATTLE — Tucked within the Mexican Consulate in Seattle, sits a table of pottery. Thirty-five pieces of history, once stolen.

“People want to fill their desires for self-wealth. And it comes at the expense of history sometimes,” says Robert Hammer, Special Agent in Charge, with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

After a two-year investigation, Hammer helped facilitate a repatriation ceremony on Wednesday. It signifies the formal return of the stolen items. Some of the delicate artifacts date back to 100 AD. They’re linked to the Chiapas region in southern Mexico.

“Returning these items doesn’t just help with our research. It actually begins to bridge that gap that we have with the past,” says Head Consul of Mexico in Seattle Héctor Iván Godoy Priske.

HSI credits a Seattle resident for sounding the alarm on these artifacts.

“It was because of the good conscience of a local citizen, that said ‘I’m in possession of something I shouldn’t be. Let me make this right’,” says Hammer.

He encourages others, who are in possession of stolen artifacts, to come forward. Hammer says the investigation involved several months of documenting the artifacts and verifying their origins.

Priske says Wednesday’s ceremony was a show of goodwill between the two countries.

“It’s an opportunity to say, ‘we are neighbors, we can work together, and we can help each other in things as important as trade’, but also as important as ‘these things belong to your indigenous groups, I would like to return them.’ That is very special,” says Priske.

In the coming weeks, the artifacts will be carefully packaged up and returned to Mexico, where researchers will study, document, and catalog them. The hope is that someday they’ll sit in a museum.

According to HSI, since 2007, the department has repatriated more than 20,000 objects to at least 40 countries.

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