Olmec artifacts reunite for exhibition at Xalapa Anthropology Museum

Archaeological artifacts recovered from the El Manatí springs in the Coatzacoalcos River basin are being reunited for the first time in nearly four decades. The collection is featured in the temporary exhibition ‘Señores del agua, espacios sagrados olmecas’ at the Museo de Antropología de Xalapa (MAX).

The exhibition includes 90 archaeological items that provide insight into the religious practices and cosmology of the Olmec civilization, which emerged approximately 3,700 years ago. The artifacts were originally discovered in 1988 and include organic materials preserved by anaerobic conditions in the mud, such as seeds and other ritual offerings deposited between 1700 and 900 B.C.

The exhibition is organized by the federal Secretariat of Culture, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the INAH Veracruz Center, and the Universidad Veracruzana. It commemorates the 70th anniversary of the MAX and will remain open to the public for one year.