According to the Mexican Foreign Ministry, 17 Mexican archaeological items that had been in the possession of Dutch citizens for 30 years have been returned.

Mexico has been on a mission to retrieve thousands of archeological objects that were unlawfully stolen from the nation. According to official data, 6,000 have been returned so far.

The items include some miniature human sculptures manufactured between 400 and 1521. Although it is unclear how the two came to possess them, Hubert De Boer and Liesebeth Mellis, who had owned the objects for 30 years, gave them off during a ceremony at the Mexican Embassy in the Netherlands.

Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History recognized the artifacts as authentic, and they came from all across the nation, including the Gulf Coast, the central plains, and the southeast.

In reference to the crafting techniques, the Foreign Ministry said, "The pieces were manufactured utilizing the modeling, smoothing, incision, and pastillage application method."

Following the recent sale of archaeological objects from pre-Columbian Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has chastised France for continuing to allow the unrestricted sale of cultural heritage items from other nations.

He also condemned Austria's holding of a feather crown thought to have belonged to Aztec monarch Moctezuma in the 16th century, which many Mexican governments have attempted to retrieve.