Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Artifacts returned to Machu Picchu, after almost 100 years

The first set of artifacts (363 to be precise) taken from Machu Picchu were returned today from Yale University, after being held in the United States for almost one hundred years after the explorer Hiram Bingham III had scooped them up during an excavation project.

The culture ministry informed that an airplane carrying the 363 pieces arrived today in Lima City at 8AM local time, after being held at Yale University. Later they are to be received at the Government Palace by Peru’s President Alan García.

The transportation of the articles though, will be no small undertaking, with a large security operation in place in which 600 police officers will be involved in the movement process, informed Chief of Police, Raúl Salazar informed.

The return comes after a longwinded dispute over ownership rights to the materials, which were taken in 1912 when Bingham excavated the area alongside Yale and the National Geographic Society, taking back almost 5,000 archeological pieces back to the United States.