'Indy' Stole Peru's Gems

By Ryan Curtis

A century ago, stalwart explorer and Yale alumnus Hiram Bingham III emerged from Peru's rugged mountains, having discovering Machu Picchu by asking several local Peruvians where it was. He revealed the ancient city to the rest of the world with a book titled Inca Land: Explorations in the highlands of Peru.

After the discovery, Yale had numerous relics and artifacts brought to the US for study. Presumably, relocating the entire city to Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History would not have been cost effective. In the immortal words of the fictitious grave-robber Dr. Indiana Jones, whose character was partly based on Bingham, “This belongs in a museum!”

Through the use of selective amnesia, Yale University was able to keep the objects much longer than the initial 18-month loan period. Now, nearly a hundred years later, following the examples of other archaeologically rich but weakly defended nations, Peru has diplomatically demanded the return of its antiquities. Fortunately, the two sides reached a “Memorandum of Understanding” last September, whereby the majority of the relics will be returned to Peru, but Yale researchers will still be able to study them in their land of origin. Yale will also retain possession of a few artifacts for 99 years, at the end of which time they will definitely, absolutely, be returned.

After reviewing the inventory of artifacts, a team from Peru's National Institute of Culture declared that 40,000 relics were taken from Machu Picchu by Bingham, not the original estimate of 4,000. Some possible explanations for the disparity in the estimates include: each of the original 4,000 artifacts were subsequently broken in to 10 pieces; Yale hid 36,000 relics in the basement during Peru's first visit last year; or the team from Peru's National Institute of Culture brought a bigger sack with them this time.

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