PERU: Yale sued for disputed Inca artefacts

Peru is suing Yale University in a US federal court to recover thousands of Inca artefacts removed from the Machu Picchu jungle ruins nearly a century ago, reports Associated Press. In a suit filed earlier this month in Washington, the South American nation is demanding that Yale returns what it says are more than 40,000 artefacts taken by famed scholar Hiram Bingham III between 1911 and 1915.

The claim accuses Yale of fraudulently holding the relics for decades. Peru has been pressing its claim to the relics for years, saying it never relinquished ownership.

Last year, the two sides reached an agreement giving Peru legal title to the pieces, which were to travel in a joint exhibit and then return to a museum and research centre in the ancient Incan capital of Cuzco. Yale would have funded the travelling exhibit and partially funded the museum. But Peru backed out of the deal because of a dispute over how many artefacts were to be returned.
Full report on the Associated Press Google site