After resorting to numerous ways to increase pressure on Yale University, it now looks as though Peru’s attempts to secure the return of artefacts may have been successful. It is worth bearing in mind though that agreements such as this can fall though for man reasons. Previously Yale agreed to return the same artefacts in 2007, but this never went ahead and the reasons given tend to vary depending on which side you speak to.

From:
Bloomberg News

Yale to Return Incan Artifacts Taken a Century Ago, Peru’s President Says
By John Quigley – Nov 20, 2010 5:15 PM GMT

Yale University, the third-oldest U.S. college, has agreed to return Incan artifacts taken from Peru a century ago, President Alan Garcia said.

Ernesto Zedillo, a Yale professor and a former Mexican president, promised yesterday to return the artifacts, which were excavated by archaeologist and Yale Professor Hiram Bingham from the Machu Picchu citadel in the southern Andes in 1912, Garcia said in statement dated yesterday and posted on the presidential website.
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A group of American & Peruvian runners in the New York marathon are supporting Peru’s attempts to retrieve various disputed treasures from Machu Picchu, currently held by Yale University.

From:
Living In Peru

November 8, 2010 [ 9:02 ]
Peru’s president welcomes New York marathoners support in Yale case

Peruvian President Alan Garcia expressed confidence, last week, that the government will soon retrieve more than 40 thousand Inca artifacts removed from Machu Picchu nearly a century ago and held by Yale University as this is a “just and legitimate” cause.

In this regard, he welcomed a group of American and Peruvian athletes’ support, competing in yesterday New York marathon, to the government-backed campaign to recover the archaeological treasures.
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Considering the press coverage that the dispute between Peru & Yale University over various Machu Picchu artefacts has recently received, its interesting that a new book has just come out about Hiram Bingham – the person who removed many of these desputed items int he first place.

From:
SAFE

Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Cradle of Gold – Christopher Heaney
(Review by Andrew Vasicek)

In his book, Heaney utilizes an easy, conversational style to tell an interesting and surprising tale of the life and adventures of Hiram Bingham. The reader is treated to Indiana Jones-like stories of the explorer’s travels throughout Peru and of the wonderful discoveries he made. Heaney’s use of original sources is at times inspired and always appropriate. The little tidbits about Bingham and his family are often poignant and truly create a feeling in the reader that one knows the man himself.

At the same time, the reader is shown the sometimes shady underbelly of the profession of archaeology (or perhaps just “exploring”) and its connections to the mistreatment of indigenous people, the illicit artifact trade, and much more. Sadly, these practices date back hundreds or thousands of years, perhaps as far back as humanity has existed in a form resembling that of today.
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The latest stage in an escalating dispute between Peru & Yale University, over Inca treasures taken from Machu Picchu, is an official request by Peru’s president for Barack Obama to intervene.

From:
New York Times blogs

November 3, 2010, 5:21 pm
Peru Seeks Obama’s Help in Dispute With Yale
By RANDY KENNEDY

Escalating a war of words between his government and Yale University, President Alan García of Peru has made a formal request for President Obama’s intervention in a long-running dispute over the ownership of a large group of artifacts excavated in 1912 at Machu Picchu by a Yale explorer.

Peru has argued that the items were only lent to the university and should have been returned long ago. Yale has contended that it returned all borrowed objects in the 1920s, retaining only those to which it had full title. In 2007 the sides reached a tentative agreement that would have set up a long-term collaboration and granted title of the disputed antiquities to Peru while allowing a certain number to remain at Yale for study and display. But that deal fell apart in 2008, and Peru filed a civil suit in federal court in Connecticut.
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Twenty three Yale alumni who live in Peru have written to the University, urging the return of various disputed artefacts held by the University.

From:
Yale Daily News

Alumni demand artifacts’ return
By Drew Henderson – Staff Reporter
Monday, October 18, 2010

Yale’s reluctance to return a trove of artifacts to Peru undermines the University’s efforts to build partnerships abroad, 23 alumni who reside in Peru wrote in a letter to University President Richard Levin last month.

The authors of the letter represent the majority of the 43 alumni living in Peru, Susan Rolfe ’89 said. Rolfe has lived in Peru since 1994, and now coordinates the local Yale Alumni Association. The letter urges Levin to hasten the return of the artifacts and resolve the lawsuit currently pending in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.
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Peru’s long running dispute with Yale University continues, with President Alan Garcia making new demands for the return of 40,000 artefacts.

From:
Daily Telegraph

Peru president accuses Yale of Inca ‘robbery’
Published: 4:42PM BST 28 Sep 2010

Peruvian President Alan Garcia has demanded that Yale University returns the archeological treasures its researchers “looted” from the country’s Machu Picchu site in the early 1900s.

Peru says Yale took around 40,000 artefacts including pottery, jewellery and bones from the site in the Peruvian Andes.
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Three years ago, the government of Peru & Yale University signed an agreement for the return of various artefacts. At the time, it was seen by many as the sort of agreement that could act as a template for many other restitution cases around the world. The reality is though that three years later, not artefacts have yet returned from Yale.

From:
Patriot News

Who owns the past? Peru, Yale University are debating
Published: Saturday, August 28, 2010, 3:24 PM
HEATHER LONG, The Patriot-News

I returned this week from the South American nation of Peru, a country best known for its Inca ruins such as Machu Picchu.

As an American, I half-expected to get questions from Peruvians about Arizona’s new immigration law or better yet about William Trickett Smith, the Harrisburg-area native recently extradited to Peru for charges of killing his wife in the capital city of Lima.
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Further coverage of the recent conference in Cairo on the restitution of looted antiquities.

From:
BBC News

Page last updated at 23:31 GMT, Wednesday, 7 April 2010 00:31 UK
Egypt calls for antiquities unity

States which say artefacts have been stolen and displayed overseas should unite to recover their stolen heritage, Egypt’s top archaeologist has said.

Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), urged culture officials from around the world to draw up lists of missing items.
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Many countries want artefacts returned, but at best, the response to these requests has been only the tiniest trickle, from museums that continue to cling to notions of legitimacy.

From:
Examiner

Never ending debate: repatriation of cultural artifacts
April 14, 8:12 PMNY Art ExaminerJennifer Eberhart

One of the most widely debated topics in the art history world today is repatriation, or the return of “stolen or gifted” items to the home country. Should museums be allowed to keep their collections as they are, for the benefit of their patrons, or are they required to return significant works of art to the countries they originated from?

The debate continues as Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s antiquities director, recently announced his continued quest to retrieve artifacts stolen from the countries centuries ago, when the archaeological statutes that we have now weren’t in place. Hawass claims he will be relentless in his efforts, and is teaming up with other countries around the globe in order to further his mission. Meeting last week at the “Conference on International Cooperation for the Protection and Repatriation of Cultural Heritage”, Egypt and 25 other countries, including China, Peru and Italy, hope to reclaim many of these ancient artifacts from museums around the world.
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In recent weeks, there have been a number of controversial auctions involving looted artefacts. The attention that these auctions have attracted highlights how strongly many people feel about cultural property cases.

From:
Digital Chosun ilbo (Korea)

Updated Mar.30,2009 12:59 KST
Efforts for the Return of Our Heritage Must Continue

Gandhi’s personal effects went up for sale at auction in New York on Mar. 6 and were bought by an Indian billionaire. Among his belongings were also a pocket watch, his sandals, and a bowl. Gandhi had presented the iconic round spectacles to a British colonel during the 1930s, telling him that they had given him the vision to free India. The leather sandals were given to a British officer before a roundtable meeting on Indian independence in 1931 because the officer took photographs of Gandhi.

News that these memorabilia were being auctioned off sparked outrage among India’s 1.1 billion people. The government and Gandhi’s descendents expressed their objections, saying it was an insult to Gandhi’s memory. The American seller responded he would cancel the auction if the Indian government sharply increased its spending on the poor by cutting its defense budget in half.
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As the issues of repatriation & reunification of cultural property become more widely known, many countries are going to ever greater lengths to secure return of their artefacts.

From:
Star Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas)

Posted on Tue, Mar. 03, 2009
Countries go to greater lengths to get looted treasures back
By TIM JOHNSON and JULIE SELL
McClatchy Newspapers

BEIJING — China fumes over the foreign auction of its looted relics. Cambodia sputters over pieces of an ancient temple on sale on eBay. Egypt aches for its stolen treasures that sit in foreign museums, including the indescribably splendid bust of Nefertiti. Italy and Greece plead for the return of countless antiquities.

Countries with rich architectural heritages demand their patrimony back — and they are going to ever-greater lengths to get it.
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A summary of some of the more well known cases of looted artefacts around the world, prompted by the recent chain of events following the auctioning of artefacts belonging to the late Yves Saint Lauren.

From:
Reuters

FACTBOX: Disputed artifacts around the world
Mon Mar 2, 2009 2:38pm GMT

(Reuters) – A Chinese art collector identified himself on Monday as the winning bidder in last week’s Paris auction for two sculptures looted from Beijing in the 1800s but said that, as a patriot, he had no intention of paying.

The collector said the relics should not have been put up for sale as they had been stolen from Beijing’s Summer Palace, which was razed in 1860 by French and British forces.
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