YumaMarc
Sr. Member
- Dec 12, 2004
- 493
- 667
- Detector(s) used
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White's MXT
Minelab Quattro
Fisher F2
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
My wife and I are going to Copán Ruinas next week for a few days. If nothing else, I hope to get some good photos, and I'm sure we will load up on genuine fake Mayan "stuff". Here in Honduras it is illegal to buy, sell or possess genuine Mayan artifacts, and the penalties are severe. Many people do have them, however, because some are so well made as to be nearly impossible to know their origins. Pottery items, especially, are sometimes made with clay from original deposits, painted with the same mineral and vegetable dyes, and buried in the ground for years, resulting in some nearly exact duplicates. Anyone caught trying to smuggle genuine artifacts, or worse what the customs officials THINK are genuine, can get some major vacation time in the national prison at Tamara. Tamara is known locally as a cross between Spandau, Alcatraz and Devil's Island, so it isn't somewhere you really want to spend any length of time.
The two photos with black backgrounds are genuine. The others are an example of Lenca blackware, and a modern Mayan-made polychrome pottery piece, antiqued quite well.
The two photos with black backgrounds are genuine. The others are an example of Lenca blackware, and a modern Mayan-made polychrome pottery piece, antiqued quite well.
