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National museum receives seized archaeological pieces

Róger Solórzano Canales | Sep 2, 2011

Part of pre-Columbian pieces received by the National Museum.

About 200 Pre-Columbian units of different styles, cultures and historical periods are now owned by this institution.

Two hundred and eighty three pottery and clay pieces, among 196 archaeological objects and 87 replicas, were officially given today to the Nicaraguan National Museum by representatives of the Nicaraguan Institute of Culture (INC). This collection had been recently recovered after a trial and previously owned by the American John David Repko, who lived in San Marcos (Carazo) and died last year from natural causes.

Due to the variety of shapes and styles of the pieces, Luis Morales, INC's co-director, said that it is possible to assure that the objects belong to different cultures and geographic areas of the country. Some of them could be from Rivas, Ometepe, Leon and Carazo. Morales publicly advised private owners of archaeological collections to properly register their pieces with the institution, otherwise their cases will be classified as illegal owners and their pieces will be confiscated.

The director of INC's Cultural Heritage, Blanca Arauz Castellon, explained that these objects had been recently given to them after leaving the Carazo courthouse. Authorities will proceed to make an scientific inventory and an analysis of the collection. An important detail is that some of the pieces belong to historical periods that are rarely to find in a good condition, such as "pataky leyenda" and "usultán negativo", which have a Salvadoran influence.

After the analysis that the professional archaeologists linked to the National Museum will make, the collection will be exhibited to nationals and foreigners inside the establishment, located inside the National Palace of Culture (old center of Managua). INC's authorities stated that the oldest pieces date from the year 10,000 BC.

Translated by Cinthia Membreño