Yale will return all of the Inca artifacts it has held for nearly 100 years to the nation of Peru, according to a memorandum of understanding signed by University President Richard Levin and the Peruvian minister of foreign relations Tuesday.
All of the artifacts — of which there are about 40,000 by Peru’s estimate, and about 4,000 according to Yale — will be returned before Dec. 31, 2012 at the latest. Items in a condition suitable for museum display will be returned in time for the centennial of Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham III’s 1898 scientific discovery of Machu Picchu in July 2011, the memorandum said. Yale will be responsible for all expenses relating to the artifacts’ return to Peru, according to the memorandum.
“We’re very pleased with what we’ve been able to accomplish this time,” Levin said in an interview Sunday.
Yale and Peru previously signed a memorandum of understanding to return the artifacts in September 2007. That agreement, which was governed by Connecticut law, is effectively replaced by the new accord, which is governed by Peruvian law.
“The new agreement … does designate that Peruvian law will apply, which is fitting, since all of the material will be moved to Peru on a short timetable,” Yale Vice President and General Counsel Dorothy Robinson said in an e-mail to the News Sunday night.
Read more here: http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/nov/29/yale-return-artifacts-peru/
