A group of American & Peruvian runners in the New York marathon are supporting Peru’s attempts to retrieve various disputed treasures [1] from Machu Picchu, currently held by Yale University.
From:
Living In Peru [2]
November 8, 2010 [ 9:02 ]
Peru’s president welcomes New York marathoners support in Yale casePeruvian 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.
Wearing T-shirts with the slogan “Yale, return Machu Picchu artifacts to Peru,” these runners threw their support behind demands by Peru for Yale University to return artifacts that were excavated by Hiram Bingham in the early 1900s.“I think this is a very good initiative because these athletes will attract the attention of the media in New York and will make newspapers talk about our just cause, which seeks to recover the Machu Picchu items according to the law, you can be sure that we will achieve this in the short term,” said Garcia Perez yesterday.
The Peruvian government and Yale are at odds over possession of the artifacts, including funeral shrouds, bones, textiles and ceramics. Peru demands their return, while Yale hopes to negotiate a settlement over the artifacts that remain in the Peabody Museum.