Mexico recovers its lost treasures

The original location of Monument 9, an ancient jaguar carving, at the Chalcatzingo ruins, on a site settled 2,800 years ago by the Olmecs, the first major civilization in Mexico, south of Mexico City. — ©2023 The New York Times Company

MESOAMERICAN archaeologists know it as Monument 9: a 2,600-year-old carving in stone of a jaguar’s gaping face, roughly 5 feet wide and tall and weighing 1 tonne.

Nearly 60 years ago, the relic was looted from the ruins of Chalcatzingo, an Olmec site south of modern-day Mexico City, and smuggled into the United States, where it disappeared into a network of private collections.