Restoration of 27 incense burners recovered in 2016 in Cuautitlán concludes: INAH

▲ Five of the pieces were restored during the Ceramic Restoration Workshop Seminar at the National School of Conservation, Restoration, and Museography; the remaining 22 were restored by the Restoration Workshop team at the Conservation-Restoration Department of Cinahem. Photo courtesy of INAH .

Silvia Chávez González

Correspondent

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, June 7, 2025, p. 4

Cuautitlán, Mexico. Conservation experts from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have completed the restoration of the 27 incense burners recovered in 2016 near Juárez Park in the center of the municipality of Cuautitlán, the agency reported.

The institute noted that the objects were discovered by an archaeological rescue team from the INAH Center in the State of Mexico (Cinahem) during the supervision of public works being carried out in the municipal park.

He explained that they were found deposited one on top of the other in three layers, just as they were placed between 1350 and 1521 AD, when Cuautitlán was a tributary of the Triple Alliance, as part of a religious ceremony.

Five of the pieces were restored at the National School of Conservation, Restoration and Museography's Ceramic Restoration Workshop Seminar, and the remaining majority, 22 incense burners, were restored by the team from the Restoration Workshop of the Conservation-Restoration Department of Cinahem.

The identification, general cleaning and joining of fragments, fixing of the paint layer, replacement of missing parts, repairing and chromatic reintegration of 22 of the pieces was carried out seasonally, between 2022 and 2024.

Thirty bags of fragments were transported from the Movable Property Repository to the restoration workshop. Three archaeology students from the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEM), community service providers and interns, collaborated in identifying each fragment and piecing together the puzzle of each object.

The INAH explained that the incense burners, whose name in Nahuatl is tlémaitl ( fire hand ), are shaped like a large spoon. They consist of a hemispherical bowl for burning incense, as well as a long, hollow handle containing clay spheres, topped with the shape of a snake's head.

Dual functionality

Their design is related to a dual function: to contain aromatic plants and resins, mainly copal – considered a precious gift capable of sacralizing buildings, people and objects – and as sound instruments that imitated the rattle of snakes.

The collection includes different types. Their sizes vary; the largest pieces range between 50 and 60 centimeters in length, with a bowl diameter of 40 centimeters, while the smallest measure 40 to 45 centimeters long, with a bowl diameter of 20 to 30 centimeters. The serpentine finials of the latter are unpigmented. It is also noteworthy that one of the bowls is smooth, without the characteristic grooves.

The pieces were fragile and required formal restoration using calcium carbonate-based pastes, both for replacements and repairs. To provide visual continuity, chromatic restoration was achieved using mineral pigments mixed into the pastes, using a pointillism technique (infused with color), limited to the exterior, leaving the bowl intact to differentiate the original from the restoration.

Finally, packaging was made with cushioning and acid-free material to ensure the safekeeping, protection, and preservation of this valuable archaeological collection, the institution emphasized.

▲ Photo AFP

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, June 7, 2025, p. 4

Oualata, in southeastern Mauritania, located in the Hodh el Charqui region, is part of a quartet of ancient fortified cities or ksour , declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 1996, for their characteristic buildings made of reddish adobe and decorated with traditional paintings from the region. For decades, its population has been dwindling as residents move away in search of work, with no one taking care of the maintenance of the historic buildings.