Return Peruvian Artifacts
About 5,000 artifacts taken from the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu in Peru.

July 28, 2006. Source: The Hartford Courant, Editorial.

Colonial style Inca-bottle.
Image courtesy of Yale Peabody Museum

In what appears to be a growing trend, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles recently agreed to surrender ownership of two ancient artifacts that the government of Greece claimed were illegally seized from that country decades ago.

Earlier this year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City reached a similar agreement with the government of Italy for the return of 21 relics, including a 2,500-year-old pot known as the Euphronios krater, that had vanished from their country of origin under suspicious circumstances.

Museum goers will still get the benefit of viewing precious artifacts from other countries, as the settlements contain provisions that allow for long-term loans of other antiquities to the museums. These agreements are perhaps the most notable consequences of a rash of challenges that were launched as a result of a UNESCO resolution signed by the United States to prohibit the illegal removal of cultural treasures.

The resolution passed because many museum collections contain items that were looted from their native countries.

Unfortunately, the trend toward returning ownership has yet to catch on at Yale University, where officials won't let go of about 5,000 artifacts taken from the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu in Peru. The pieces have been part of the university's Peabody Museum of Natural History collection since 1912, after they were excavated by Yale archeologist Hiram Bingham.

Evidence shows that the artifacts were on temporary loan to the university and were to be returned. The National Geographic Society, which helped finance Mr. Bingham's expeditions, produced authorizations from the Peruvian legislature citing the terms of the release and letters by Mr. Bingham suggesting his intention not to live by those terms.

Peru's challenge was issued in March under the outgoing presidency of Alejandro Toledo, and was accompanied with a threat of a lawsuit. The new government of President Alan Garcia that was elected only a month ago has yet to say if it intends to pursue the claim against Yale.

Yale officials should nevertheless follow the lead of their counterparts in New York and Los Angeles and honor the original agreement to return Peru's cultural assets.

It's the ethical thing to do.
 

Disputed collection holds keys to Machu Picchu's secrets

(Left) This large pot is part of the collection of artifacts on exhibit at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., from the Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru. Yale scholar Hiram Bingham III rediscovered the city in 1911 and began bringing artifacts to Yale. The Peruvian government wants the artifacts back, saying the nation never relinquished ownership.

June 16, 2006. Source: AP and Forbes.com

Even after being studied for decades, Yale University's collection of relics from Machu Picchu continues to reveal new details about life in the Incan city in the clouds.

The bones tell stories about the health of the Incan people. The metal tools hint at the society's technological advancement. The artifacts help scientists reconstruct ancient trade routes.

Archaeologists say they've even learned that the Incan diet revolved not around the Peruvian staple of potatoes, but was based largely on maize. All this from studying a collection that's nearly a century old - a collection the government of Peru wants back.

Peru says it never relinquished ownership when Yale scholar Hiram Bingham rediscovered the city in 1911 and began exporting artifacts from what has become one of the world's most famous archaeological sites.

Peru demanded that Yale return the relics this fall. Then, after a compromise that would have divided the them among museums in both countries broke down, Peru said it intended to sue. No lawsuit has been filed as yet and Yale administrators say they remain confident a deal can be worked out that will resolve the dispute amicably.

Many of the relics are on display at Yale's Peabody Museum. But the collection, which include mummies, ceramics, tools and human bones, has more scientific than aesthetic value, Yale anthropology professor Richard L. Burger said.

"It's not a collection of art objects," Burger said. "If you want to see the most beautiful Incan art objects, you go to the Inca Museum in Cuzco."

The Incas ruled Peru from the 1430s until the arrival of the Spaniards in 1532, constructing incredible stone-block cities and roads and developing a highly organized society that extended from modern-day Colombia to Chile.

The ruins at Machu Picchu, located on a mountaintop above a lush valley 500 kilometers southeast of Lima, are Peru's top tourist attraction.

Bingham, a Yale archaeologist, became the first foreigner to reach Machu Picchu in 1911 and returned to the site in 1912 and 1914. Yale said artifacts from the 1914 expedition were returned long ago and said the current dispute focuses on relics from the 1912 trip.

The Peruvian government maintains that, while Bingham had approval to remove the artifacts, they were essentially on loan to Yale and the country never relinquished legal ownership.

Peru's first lady, Elaine Karp, has pushed hard to have the relics returned, Burger said. Her husband, President Alejandro Toledo, is not eligible for another term, however, and a new government took over after a June 4 runoff election.

Burger said he hopes the new government will resume negotiations.

"We feel strongly that there's enormous scientific importance to the collections," he said. "That has to be a consideration."