Yale representatives head to Peru this weekend to negotiate artifacts. YDN, 18/11/10

Yale representatives head to Peru this weekend to negotiate artifacts

By Drew Henderson

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Representatives from Yale will travel to Peru this weekend to hold negotiations over artifacts discovered in 1911 at Machu Picchu but held at Yale for nearly a century, the Agence France-Presse reported Thursday afternoon. The announcement by Peruvian President Alan Garcia follows last week's report that Yale and Peru have reopened talks, which had previously ended before Peru sued Yale in Dec. 2008.

"We've been trying to move the discussions forward for many months and we're pleased to see that the Peruvians are similarly motivated," University President Richard Levin said in a Nov. 9 interview.

The disagreement concerns artifacts excavated by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham 1898 in his 1911 expedition to the country. The Peruvian government has held that the relics remain property of the nation of Peru and must be returned. The lawsuit is pending in the US District Court of Connecticut, awaiting the judge's decision on Yale's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Yale's lawyers argued in a motion filed Jan. 8 that the lawsuit should be dropped because the three year statute of limitations period in which Peru could request the artifacts' return had long expired.