The Peru–Yale University dispute was a century-long conflict between the government of Peru and Yale University about the rightful ownership of Inca human remains and artifacts from Machu Picchu, an ancient Inca site high in the Peruvian Andes active c. 1420–1532. In the several years following his re-discovery of Machu Picchu in 1911, Yale explorer Hiram Bingham III removed thousands of objects – including pottery, stone tools, and human bones – from the archaeological site and brought them to New Haven, Connecticut. The circumstances of these transfers were disputed, with some, including Bingham, claiming that Yale agreed to borrow the artifacts for a period of 18 months to conduct studies. Peru attempted to regain the collection in the 1920s, but Yale resisted. Tensions rose between 2006 and 2010 with a lawsuit, activism by Peruvians and Yale alumni, and a plea to then–U.S. President Barack Obama by then–Peruvian President Alan Garcia. On November 19, 2010, Peru and Yale reached an agreement that the remains and artifacts would be returned. In early 2011, Yale and University of Cusco (UNSAAC) signed a further agreement that the two institutions would partner to create a museum and research center in Cusco. The museum, the Museo Machu Picchu, was opened to the public in November 2011. The collection is regarded by experts to be among the most valuable collections of Inca artifacts.
Background
Machu Picchu is an Inca site high in the Andes mountains. Archeologists believe that at 8,000 ft (2,400 m) elevation, Machu Picchu was a summer retreat for the Inca Emperor Pachacutec and his close associates. The walled and terraced site contains palaces, baths, temples, and 150 houses carved from granite blocks assembled with extraordinary precision. The Incas planted potatoes and maize and used advanced farming techniques such as terracing and irrigation. Machu Picchu was occupied c. 1420–1532, but by 1527, a smallpox epidemic halved the population, and the site was abandoned by the time conquistador Francisco Pizzaro arrived in 1532. Machu Picchu, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, is at the heart of the Inca Empire, and is central to Peru’s history and cultural identity. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Machu Picchu each year.
Chronology
Re-discovery of Machu Picchu (1911) Hiram Bingham first learned about Machu Picchu while he was a lecturer in South American history at Yale University. On his return from a 1908 trip to Chile, he traveled through Peru, where he heard stories of a “lost” Inca city. Intrigued, Bingham returned to Peru in 1911 and, with the help of local guides who already knew of the city, he arrived at Machu Picchu on July 24. He wrote that the city “fairly took my breath away”. Later that year Bingham wrote an article for National Geographic magazine, which helped to popularize the ruins internationally. The New York Times called it “the greatest archaeological discovery of the age.” Bingham’s 1911 photos of Machu Picchu caused a “worldwide sensation”. Further trips in 1912 and 1914 were funded by Yale, the National Geographic Society, and Bingham's wife's family, the founders of Tiffany & Co. During these trips, thousands of artifacts including ceramics, jewelry and human bones, were packed in crates and sent to New Haven. Yale had permission from Peru to export artifacts that were uncovered: while Peruvian law banned the export of artifacts, a special agreement under Peruvian President Augusto B. Leguía made an exception to the export ban. But the agreement “clearly stated that the artifacts belonged to Peru”; Bingham could bring the artifacts to the United States, but also “the Peruvian Government reserves the right to exact from Yale University and the National Geographic Society of the United States of America the return of the unique specimens and duplicates”.
Difference of opinion Tulane University anthropologist John Verano commented on the origins of the dispute, saying “There's some difference of opinion whether Hiram Bingham had a legitimate permit to export.” A November 1916 letter from Bingham to Gilbert H. Grosvenor of the National Geographic Society suggests that Bingham believed the objects to be on loan. He writes: "Now they do not belong to us, but to the Peruvian government, who allowed us to take them out of the country on condition that they be returned in 18 months." Bingham understood the importance of the artifacts to the Peruvian people, writing, "The whole matter has assumed a very large importance in the eyes of the Peruvians, who feel that we are trying to rob their country of its treasures."
Now they do not belong to us, but to the Peruvian government, who allowed us to take them out of the country on condition that they be returned in 18 months. Colin Renfrew, professor of archeology at Cambridge University, called the export deal between Bingham and Peru “very murky". To further complicate the dispute, there is some disagreement about the contents of the crates Bingham removed. Peru expert Christopher Heaney points out that at the time, excavators often failed to report a portion of the findings in the official inventories — to have “more control” in the process of dividing up the artifacts among institutions and governments — and that “Yale had made a practice of keeping their better finds quiet”. Sharon Flescher, executive director of the International Foundation for Art Research, which helps track stolen cultural artifacts, states that this was not a case of looting, but rather a contractual dispute. Peruvian officials stated that the transfer of artifacts to Yale was a loan, not permanent.
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