Peru to sue Yale for Machu Picchu treasures

LIMA, Peru - Peru plans to sue Yale University for the return of 4,900 artifacts taken from Machu Picchu, the fabled Inca citadel, by a US explorer nearly a century ago, the government said.

Peru's National Culture Institute, or INC, said the artifacts, which include Inca ceramics, cloths, metalwork and human bones, were lent to Yale for 18 months in 1916, but the New Haven, Connecticut, university has made them part of its collection.

"Unfortunately, this has to be resolved via the courts because Yale claims ownership and doesn't want to give these artifacts back," INC Director Luis Lumbreras said.

"We're not talking about ancient masterpieces, but they are emblematic of Peruvian culture and by law we are required to seek their return," Lumbreras said, adding Peru still had the 1916 loan document.

Officials from Yale's anthropology department were not immediately available for comment. The university has argued it is the legal owner of the artifacts and allows thousands of people to view them every year, inspiring many to visit Machu Picchu.

Lumbreras said the lawsuit would be filed in Connecticut state court in the next few months, but a higher, international tribunal may make the final decision.

Peru was seeking to retrieve the artifacts now because it aimed to put them on public display in 2011 for the centenary of Machu Picchu's rediscovery by US explorer Hiram Bingham.

Bingham, a Yale alumni, found Machu Picchu in the southern Andes under thick forest in 1911. The pre-Columbian ruins of an entire city were essentially forgotten, perched on a mountain saddle 8,400 feet (2,560 metres) above sea level near the city of Cuzco.

Machu Picchu was probably the sanctuary of Inca Emperor Pachacutec and lay at the heart of the Inca empire, which dominated South America from Colombia to Chile until being toppled by Spanish conquerors in the 1530s.

The citadel has become South America's best-known archeological site and attracts half a million tourists every year.

"The site was ransacked by grave robbers many times over the centuries, so what was left Bingham would have found in rubbish dumps or in small burial caves. But that should not detract from their historical value," Lumbreras said.

- REUTERS