ZCZC
BFF-24
PERU-US-ARGENTINA-DIPLOMACY-ARCHAEOLOGY
Inca artefacts returned to Peru from US, Argentina
LIMA, May 15, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – More than a hundred pre-Columbian treasures
including clay idols and textiles from the Inca Empire have been returned to
Peru from the United States and Argentina.
The 130 artefacts, many of which were voluntarily returned after being
illegally smuggled out of Peru, were displayed at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs building in the capital Lima on Tuesday.
The objects included decorated bowls and vases, embroidered cloths, carved
wooden sculptures and painted figurines.
“Argentina (returned) a lot of 92 cultural goods and another from the
United States is made up of 38 cultural assets,” said a foreign ministry
statement.
The US lot was repatriated with the help of an anthropology museum at the
University of California, Berkeley, while 77 other objects belonged to
Argentine individual collectors.
The archeological pieces can be traced back to pre-Columbian cultures
including the Moche, Chimu, Nasca, Chancay, Huari, Vicus, Lambayeque and
Chincha, as well as the Inca.
The owners were approached by Peruvian authorities, who requested the
objects’ repatriation after identifying them as part of the nation’s cultural
heritage.
BSS/AFP/RY/14:10 hrs