History
The statue is 55 cm (22 in) high, 42 cm (16 in) wide, and weighs an estimated 60 kg (132 lb). It was probably carved during the Middle Formative Period, some time between 1000 to 600 BCE).
The statue was discovered in near Jesús Carranza, Veracruz, by two local children, Rosa and Severiano Paschal Manuel. Dug out and taken to their nearby home, it was declared the "La Virgen de las Limas" and set up on its own altar. Word of the find reached archaeologists in Xalapa. After promising to keep the statue on display — and to build a local school — the archaeologists moved the sculpture to the Xalapa Museum of Anthropology.
Five years later, in October 1970, the statue was stolen from the museum, only later to be found in a motel room in San Antonio, Texas, apparently too famous to be sold on the black market.
It is presently on display at the Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, in Veracruz.
Read more about this topic: Las Limas Monument 1
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