MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico announced Friday that a huge 2,500-year-old Olmec stone sculpture has been returned from the United States.
The almost 6-foot-tall “Monster of the Earth” sculpture appears to represent the gaping maw of a monster that is big enough to swallow people, and may represent a symbolic entrance to the underworld.
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Chancellor of Mexico Marcelo Ebrard, left, and Colorado Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera look on with other officials during the repatriation of a part of “Monument 9,” an Olmec civilization statue that is believed to represent an “earth monster,” Friday, May 19, 2023, in Denver. Officials from Mexico were on hand for the ceremony and were scheduled to return by military plane with the statue to Mexico late Friday. Officials believe that the monument, which is from the central Mexican state of Morelos, was created sometime between 800-400 B.C. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) -
Chancellor of Mexico Marcelo Ebrard, third from left, is flanked by Colorado Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, fourth from left, after the repatriation of a part of “Monument 9,” an Olmec civilization statue that is believed to represent an “earth monster,” Friday, May 19, 2023, in Denver. Officials from Mexico were on hand for the ceremony and were scheduled to return by military plane with the statue to Mexico late Friday. Officials believe that the monument, which is from the central Mexican state of Morelos, was created sometime between 800-400 B.C. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) -
Denver Police Department officers look on as a forklift carries a box containing a part of “Monument 9,” an Olmec civilization statue that is believed to represent an “earth monster,” during a repatriation ceremony at Denver International Airport Friday, May 19, 2023, in Denver. Officials from Mexico were on hand for the ceremony and were scheduled to return by military plane with the statue to Mexico late Friday. Officials believe that the monument, which is from the central Mexican state of Morelos, was created sometime between 800-400 B.C. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) -
Colorado Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, left, is shown a photograph of “Monument 9,” an Olmec civilization statue that is believed to represent an “earth monster,” before a part of the creation was repatriated Friday, May 19, 2023, in Denver. Officials from Mexico were on hand for the ceremony and were scheduled to return by military plane with the statue to Mexico late Friday. Officials believe that the monument, which is from the central Mexican state of Morelos, was created sometime between 800-400 B.C. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) -
Chancellor of Mexico Marcelo Ebrard, center left, and Colorado Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, center right, wait with fellow officials during the repatriation of a part of “Monument 9,” an Olmec civilization statue that is believed to represent an “earth monster,” Friday, May 19, 2023, in Denver. Officials from Mexico were on hand for the ceremony and were scheduled to return by military plane with the statue to Mexico late Friday. Officials believe that the monument, which is from the central Mexican state of Morelos, was created sometime between 800-400 B.C. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) -
Colorado Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, front, and Chancellor of Mexico Marcelo Ebrard, third from left, tallest, head out of an air terminal for the repatriation of a part of “Monument 9,” an Olmec civilization statue that is believed to represent an “earth monster,” Friday, May 19, 2023, in Denver. Officials from Mexico were on hand for the ceremony and were scheduled to return by military plane with the statue to Mexico late Friday. Officials believe that the monument, which is from the central Mexican state of Morelos, was created sometime between 800-400 B.C. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) -
While boarding a plane at a private flight service at Denver International Airport, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, back, walks past a box containing a part of “Monument 9,” an Olmec civilization statue that is believed to represent an “earth monster,” Friday, May 19, 2023, in Denver. Officials from Mexico were on hand for the ceremony and were scheduled to return by military plane with the statue to Mexico late Friday. Officials believe that the monument, which is from the central Mexican state of Morelos, was created sometime between 800-400 B.C. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Experts say the sculpture is important because of the insights it provides into the cosmological vision of the Olmecs, considered a founding culture of Meso-America.
Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said the sculpture was handed over at the Mexican consulate in Denver on Friday.
Experts believe the sculpture was taken clandestinely in the 1960s from Chalcatzingo, a lesser-known ruin site south of Mexico City.
“It was like an open wound, not having this artifact,” Ebrard said.
