It seems like we are on a Peru binge here at the Projects Abroad blog!

Although this landmark deal happened in the middle of September, I hadn’t heard of it until recently when a friend from university pointed it out to me. For the back story, the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History (which I visited with Tim DeWinter, our Peru Country Director last year) has an amazing collection of Incan artifacts which the Peruvian government claimed as rightfully theirs and Peruvian national treasures.

The artifacts were originally excavated from Machu Picchu between 1911 and 1915 on the expedition led by Yale professor Hiram Bingham III, who rediscovered the 15th century Incan city.

“Paccha” or ritual offering vessel, courtesy of Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

In return for the release of the artifacts, Yale will be able to hold onto several of the research materials but after a year artifacts from both Yale’s and Peru’s collection will go on an international traveling exhibition which will help raise awareness and interest in Peru’s past.

Following the exhibition’s tour, most of the museum-quality artifacts currently at Yale will be installed in a new museum and research center in Cuzco, Peru, which will be built by the Peruvian government to meet security and technical specifications provided by Yale.

As an art history buff, a graduate of Yale and a big fan of our Inca Projects program, it’s great to see my alma mater doing the right thing and returning these amazing artifacts back to Peru. But it is also notable that both Yale and Peru did so in a collaborative way that will hopefully expand research and scholarship.

If this is a topic you are interested in, take a look at our Inca program here.