Peru wants Yale University to give back Machu Picchu relics

Peru wants Yale University to give back Machu Picchu relics

Associated Press
Lima

Nearly a century after a Yale professor became the first
foreigner to reach the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, Peru is
asking the university to give back artifacts he took with him.

Hundreds of the ceramics and human bones dug up by expeditions
led by Hiram Bingham between 1911 and 1915 went on display at the
university's Peabody Museum in late January.

"The government appreciates the exhibit as a way of projecting
Peruvian culture and we are seeking an accord that will permit
the return of these cultural assets to Peru," Deputy Foreign
Minister Manuel Rodriguez said Wednesday.

The Peabody Museum's web site says the artifacts became part
of its collection "by agreement with the Peruvian government."

The government permitted Bingham to take the relics with him,
"but the temporary character of the loan was never discussed,"
Rodriguez said.

He said Peru has been discussing the issue with the school and
described initial talks as "very positive and constructive."

Yale officials didn't immediately return telephone messages
left after business hours Wednesday.

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 Incas abandoned Machu Picchu around 1545, as Spanish
soldiers began to conquer their empire. Residents fled to the
Inca capital of Cusco or to the surrounding jungles to survive.

Bingham led three trips that uncovered the majority of the
artifacts discovered at Machu Picchu. The objects, found in
burial chambers, shed light on the sophisticated and diverse life
the Incas enjoyed before the Spanish conquest.

The partially reconstructed ruins, 500 kilometers (310 miles)
southeast of Lima, are South America's top archaeological site,
drawing 300,000 foreign visitors each year.

The Machu Picchu exhibit runs through May 4 at the Peabody
Museum and then travels to Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Denver,
Houston and Chicago over the next two years. Rodriguez said the
Peruvian government does not plan to try to stop the exhibition.

On the Net:
www.peabody.yale.edu