Museum of Archeology to present new exhibit starting next week

EL PASO, Texas ( KTSM ) – The community is invited to visit the new lobby pop-up exhibition, The Other Life of Fakes: Visible Parallel Stories, starting Friday, July 12 at the El Paso Museum of Archeology.

The exhibit, which will be on display until January 11, 2025, will provide the public with an overview of fake artifacts in museum collections, including the ones in the Museum of Archaeology, according to a news release sent by the City of El Paso.

The City said topics covered by the exhibit include what defines a fake, the damage caused to the historic and cultural interpretation of ancient cultures when fakes are not properly identified, and how fakes are used by museums in new educational and interpretive ways.

“In addition to detailed stories of Mesoamerican fakes in Mexico, the exhibit will highlight the small town of Mata Ortiz through the lesser-known history behind their ceramic-making renaissance,” read the news release. “The town’s production of fake ceramics imitating those of the ancient Casas Grandes culture of northern Chihuahua, Mexico highlights the exhibit’s central premise: that fakes have their own stories to tell, which inevitably diverge from the official record.”

The El Paso Museum of Archaeology is free and open Tuesday through Saturday. For more information about the museum, including exhibitions and events, visit here .

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