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The Guatemalan government claims France an archaeological piece of the so-called classical Mayan period (250 to 900 AD). This is the fragment of a stele that will be auctioned on September 18 in Paris.
The piece represents a zoomorphic face. It would be that of a Mayan king in the form of a bird. The archaeologist Camilo Luin believes that France should return and returns on the story of this discovery.
" In about 1899, the archaeologist Teobert Mahler reports this stele in the prehistoric site of Piedras Negras, it is in the department of Peten, he says. It is thanks to him that we know that the stele was complete. But it has been fragmented into three pieces. "
Looting and smuggling
" The fragment that appeared in the auction corresponds to the top of stele number 9 , details the researcher. He represents the Mayan King number 4. He was one of the most important kings. It is represented in the form of a bird. On this piece, we see only the headdress that is the traditional decoration that Mayan kings wore on their head. "
Like many of his fellow archaeologists, Camilo Luin believes that this fragment is the result of smuggling. " The fragment of this stele was looted in the early 1960s or the late 1950s. It reappeared in the collection of a gentleman who had hung it in his stay. Several archaeological pieces from this site Piedras Negras have landed in private collections in the United States and Europe. "