The discovery was a chance find made by an octopus fisherman, Raúl Hurtado Hernández, who, on a typical workday, had the “good fortune” to come across pre-Hispanic jewelry and ingots that could be used to pay the quinto real (tax). He made the discovery at the mouth of the Río Medio, north of the city of Veracruz.

Octopus fishing is done free-diving; divers submerge without any equipment to supply them with air. Octopuses are usually found hiding in corals and reefs, and it was precisely in the cavity of a coral that Raúl saw something shining—gold objects that had been part of a colonial shipwreck. He managed to retrieve some, and later returned with his brother Francisco to recover more pieces. They took them to a jeweler, who determined they were solid gold; he sold some of them, and the jeweler transformed the rest into ingots and graduation rings. Word spread among the neighbors, and the authorities came to verify the story. The jewelry the brothers had kept was recovered and handed over to the National Institute of Anthropology and History for safekeeping.

Metalworking arrived in Mesoamerica quite late, likely via sea routes from the coasts of Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador to Oaxaca, Guerrero, Michoacán, and Jalisco, between 900 and 1200 AD.

In pre-Hispanic goldsmithing, the work of the Mixtecs, the artisans of Azcapotzalco, and those of western Mexico stands out. The techniques used were lost-wax casting and hammering.

The knowledge and skill of pre-Hispanic goldsmiths were admired by Europeans, as attested by Albrecht Dürer, the son of a great goldsmith, who, upon seeing a real coin sent by Hernán Cortés, remarked, “…I certainly do not admire the gold and precious stones; what amazes me is the craftsmanship and artistry with which the work surpasses the material…”

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Information: porfirio_castro@inah.gob.mx and magdalena_gil@inah.gob.mx