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Antiquities Returning to Mexico Include Mayan Vase Sold for $4 in US Store 

A Mayan vase over 1,000 years old and purchased for about four dollars at a Washington area thrift shop, will return to Mexico along with other cultural artefacts that date to the country's storied ancient past, at the Cultural Institute of Mexico in Washington, DC, US, this handout distributed on June 20, 2024. National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH)/Handout via Reuters
A Mayan vase over 1,000 years old and purchased for about four dollars at a Washington area thrift shop, will return to Mexico along with other cultural artefacts that date to the country's storied ancient past, at the Cultural Institute of Mexico in Washington, DC, US, this handout distributed on June 20, 2024. National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH)/Handout via Reuters
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Antiquities Returning to Mexico Include Mayan Vase Sold for $4 in US Store 

A Mayan vase over 1,000 years old and purchased for about four dollars at a Washington area thrift shop, will return to Mexico along with other cultural artefacts that date to the country's storied ancient past, at the Cultural Institute of Mexico in Washington, DC, US, this handout distributed on June 20, 2024. National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH)/Handout via Reuters
A Mayan vase over 1,000 years old and purchased for about four dollars at a Washington area thrift shop, will return to Mexico along with other cultural artefacts that date to the country's storied ancient past, at the Cultural Institute of Mexico in Washington, DC, US, this handout distributed on June 20, 2024. National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH)/Handout via Reuters

The Mexican government will welcome back 20 cultural artifacts that date to the country's storied ancient past, all found in the United States including a Mayan vase over 1,000 years old and purchased for about $4 at a Washington area thrift shop.

Mexico's antiquities institute INAH announced the repatriation, which also include centuries-old plates, bowls as well as sculpted figures belonging to the Aztec, Totonac and Teotihuacan cultures, in a statement on Thursday.

The artifacts are set to be returned to Mexico over the next few days.

The reddish-white Mayan vase has stoked particular interest.

According to a Washington D.C. television news report on Monday, local resident Anna Lee Dozier bought the Mayan vase for $3.99 from a clearance rack at a nearby thrift store about five years ago.

Likely made during the Maya civilization's classical zenith between 200-800 A.D., according to INAH, the well-preserved vase is a colorful polychrome vessel painted with ornate glyphs and depicting seated figures in profile gesturing with their hands.

Major Mayan cities grew in prominence beginning some 3,000 years ago across a large swathe of present-day southern Mexico and several Central American nations, during a time of major human achievements in math, astronomy and art.

Earlier this year, following a trip to Mexico City, Dozier notified Mexico's US embassy that she might have a real artifact, instead of the rustic replica she initially thought she had purchased.

Dozier later turned over the vase to Mexican officials in Washington, telling the local television station she believed the historical piece should return to its country of origin.

She also expressed relief that the ancient artifact was no longer at risk at her home from her two young boys.

"I was petrified that after two thousand years I would be the one to wreck it!"

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British Museum Explores ‘Silk Roads’ Trade Routes in New Exhibition

People walk in front of the British Museum in London, Britain, on September 28, 2023. (Reuters)
People walk in front of the British Museum in London, Britain, on September 28, 2023. (Reuters)
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British Museum Explores ‘Silk Roads’ Trade Routes in New Exhibition

People walk in front of the British Museum in London, Britain, on September 28, 2023. (Reuters)
People walk in front of the British Museum in London, Britain, on September 28, 2023. (Reuters)

A new exhibition exploring the vast network of the Silk Road trade routes opens at the British Museum in London this week.

Showcasing a range of artifacts including Chinese ceramics, Byzantine jewellery and the earliest known group of chess pieces, "Silk Roads" focuses specifically on the period AD 500 to 1,000, amid the rise of different empires and religions.

"This exhibition is presenting a rather different vision of the Silk Road than some people might be expecting... Rather than a single trade route between east and west, we are showing the Silk Roads plural... as a series of overlapping networks that link communities across Asia, Africa and Europe," exhibition co-curator Sue Brunning told Reuters.

"We're showing that it was not just silk and spices... but also people, objects and ideas moving sometimes great distances, not just by land, but also by sea and river and exchanges taking place in all contexts."

Highlights include loans from central Asia such as a large mural found in the reception hall of an aristocratic house in Samarkand, Uzbekistan and a gilded silver cup from the Galloway Hoard, on loan from the National Museums Scotland.

"Silk Roads" opens on Thursday and runs until February.