Should ancient artifacts return home?

Even before the word "archaeology" was invented, people have been removing artifacts from their
original context - or location. Objects have been taken to be sold for profit, saved as souvenirs, and
put in museums. Often, historically important artifacts that have been placed in large, national
museums have become points of national pride. Think of the Egyptian Rosetta Stone in the British
Museum, or the Greek "Nike of Samothrace" at the Louvre in Paris.

In the past few decades, some governments have politely asked for objects that they feel have been
pillaged from their countries to be returned. During the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece
attempted to pressure Great Britain for the return of the displaced Parthenon or "Elgin" marbles. Italy
recently returned an obelisk that was taken from Ethiopia just before World War II.

Recently however, the demand for the return of these has taken a more formal, and perhaps less
polite, turn. Egypt recently announced that it has decided to sue two museums, one in England and
one in Belgium for the return two pharaonic relief - or tomb carvings. Egypt says that if the museums
don't return the artifacts in question, archaeologists who work in those museums will not be allowed
to continue digging in the "Land of the Pharaohs". Zahi Hawass, the director of Egypt's Supreme
Council on Antiquities has made it his mission to have as many objects as possible returned to his
home country as quickly as possible, especially the famous ones like the Rosetta Stone - which was the
key to unlocking Ancient Egypt's hieroglyphic language.

Some archaeologists are nervous that the return of the Elgin marbles or the Rosetta Stone will open
the "flood-gates" for the return of hundreds if not thousands of artifacts. Museums like the British
Museum have argued that they not only promote scientific research on these objects, but having them
in places like London, Paris, and New York allows millions of visitors to come and visit them every
year. Others argue that it is important for countries to have the objects which reflect their cultural
heritage and national history in their own museums.

What do you think? Where do these objects belong?

Yale returning Machu Picchu artifacts after nearly 100 years
The Associated Press, November 20, 2010

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru's president announced Friday that Yale University has agreed to return
thousands of artifacts taken away from the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu nearly a century ago.

The university issued a statement a few hours later expressing satisfaction at the results of its talks
with Peru. The artifacts had been at the center of a bitter dispute for years, with Peru filing a lawsuit
in U.S. court against the school.

President Alan Garcia said the government reached a deal with Yale for the university to begin
sending back more than 4,000 objects, including pottery, textiles and bones, early in 2011 after an
inventory of the pieces is completed.

Peru's government had waged an aggressive international media campaign in recent weeks seeking to
pressure the school over the artifacts. That included a letter from Garcia to President Obama seeking
the U.S. leader's help.

Garcia said the agreement came after Yale's representative, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo,
came to Peru for talks on resolving the fight.

"We are very pleased that Yale University has responded so positively," Garcia said at the Government
Palace.

Garcia quoted Zedillo as saying Yale decided to return "all goods, pieces and parts" that were taken
from Machu Picchu by scholar Hiram Bingham III between 1911 and 1915.

In a statement, the university said it "is very pleased with the positive developments in the
discussions" with Peru.

"It has always been Yale's desire to reach an agreement that honors Peru's rich history and cultural
heritage and recognizes the world's interest in ongoing public and scholarly access to that heritage,"
the statement said.

The Machu Picchu ruins, sitting 8,000 feet above sea level on an Andean mountaintop, are Peru's main
tourist attraction. The complex of stone buildings was built in the 1400s by the Inca empire that ruled
Peru before the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century.

Peru has been seeking for years to get the artifacts back. It says they
include centuries-old Incan materials, including bronze, gold and other
metal objects, mummies, skulls, bones and other human remains, pottery,
utensils, ceramics and objects of art.

Peru filed suit against Yale in 2008 arguing that the university violated
Peruvian law by exporting the artifacts without getting special permission
from the Peruvian government and by refusing to return them.

Yale responded that it returned dozens of boxes of artifacts in 1921 and

that Peru knew the university would retain other pieces. Yale described the
artifacts as "primarily fragments of ceramic, metal and bone" and said it re-
created some objects from fragments.
In 2007, the two sides agreed to give Peru legal title to the artifacts. Under that deal, the pieces were
to travel in a joint exhibit and then be sent to a museum and research center in Peru's ancient Incan
capital of Cuzco. Yale would have paid for the traveling exhibit and partially funded the museum.

But Peru backed out of the deal because of a dispute over how many artifacts were to be returned.

Garcia added that Peru recognized that Yale's possession of the artifacts had kept the pieces from
from being "scattered in private collections around the world or maybe they would have disappeared."

He said he would ask San Antonio Abad University in Cuzco to take temporary custody of the artifacts
when they are brought back. He will ask Peru's Congress to establish a special budget to create a
museum and research center in Cuzco as a permanent home for the collection.

Video: Yale Agrees to Return Machu Picchu Artifacts

1. What does Machu Picchu represent for Peru?

2. What happened to many of Machu Picchu’s artifacts?

3. What does Elaine Karp De Toledo say about the artifacts?

4. How many Machu Picchu artifacts has Yale been in possession of?

5. Who funded Bingham’s excavation to Machu Picchu?

6. What was supposed to happen to the artifacts removed from Machu Picchu?

7. What other nation has requested some of its artifacts to be returned?

8. How is the Peruvian case “unique”?

9. How do some museums feel about returning the artifacts?

10. What does Terry Garcia say about archeological expeditions to foreign countries?

11. Some argue that great civilizations are part of our collective past, that important antiquities

should belong to all of mankind and need to be placed where they can be best preserved. Do

you agree? Why or why not?

12. What could result from getting Machu Picchu’s artifacts back?