Peru And Yale In Dispute Over Incan Relics
Date: 11-Nov-08
Country: PERU
Peru says Yale has more than 40,000 pieces, a precious mix of pottery, jewellery and bones taken by US explorer Hiram Bingham, a Yale alumnus, after he rediscovered the ancient city in 1911.
Peru's labor ministry said the government will pursue a legal case against the school to get the items returned.
Yale said it was disappointed by the decision.
"Yale University was dismayed by a report that Peru will sue the university to recover archaeological material legally excavated at Machu Picchu by Hiram Bingham III nearly one hundred years ago," the Ivy League school said in a statement.
In March, a team from Peru's National Institute of Culture travelled to the US university in New Haven, Connecticut, to take an inventory of the pieces, as part of an agreement to repatriate the relics.
As recently as September, Yale met with Peru's foreign minister to talk about finalizing an agreement, but the country is apparently tired of waiting.
Peru says the objects excavated by Bingham were on loan to Yale for 18 months and simply never sent back.
At the time of Bingham's find, the ancient city, now a major tourist draw, was forgotten, covered by thick forest in the mountains at 8,000 feet (2,430 metres) above sea level.
"Yale continues to believe that an accord can be reached that would meet the goals of the parties and the broad public interest regarding the collection's conservation, accessibility, security and availability for scholarly study," the school said.
Peru is dotted with hundreds of archaeological sites and has struggled for years to combat trafficking of fossils and artefacts.
Museums around the world are facing demands by countries from Peru to Greece and Egypt to return ancient treasures.
(Reporting by Dana Ford; Editing by Terry Wade and Jackie Frank)