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Posted on Wed, Mar. 10, 2010

Peru drops some allegations on Incan artifacts at Yale

By John Christoffersen

Associated Press

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Peru has voluntarily agreed to withdraw fraud and conspiracy allegations it made against Yale University in a lawsuit seeking the return of Incan artifacts removed from Machu Picchu nearly a century ago.

The South American nation recently filed papers in federal court dismissing six of 17 counts from its lawsuit. Peru sued in 2008, demanding Yale return artifacts taken by scholar Hiram Bingham 3d between 1911 and 1915.

The Machu Picchu ruins, perched in the clouds at 8,000 feet above sea level on an Andean mountaintop, are Peru's main tourist attraction. The complex of stone buildings was built in the 1400s by the Incan empire that ruled Peru before the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century.

The withdrawal of some claims comes after Peru hired new lawyers who said the move would simplify the case and "facilitate resolution" of the dispute. Yale's lawyers had warned that the claims violated civil procedures barring frivolous arguments.

The allegations that were withdrawn accused Yale of intending to deceive Peru by promising to return the artifacts and conspiring with Bingham to retain the artifacts unlawfully by fraudulently assuring that Yale would return the artifacts when Peru demanded.

"Peru has dropped all claims of Yale having intentionally done anything wrong," said Jonathan Freiman, Yale's attorney. "We're glad that they have done so, but we think the rest of the case is equally misguided and should be withdrawn, as well."

The counts that remain allege that Yale violated Peruvian law by exporting the artifacts without the special permission of the Peruvian government and by refusing to return them. The suit still accuses Yale of refusing to account for which artifacts it holds.

Yale says that it returned dozens of boxes of artifacts in 1921 and that Peru knew it would retain some. Yale describes the artifacts as "primarily fragments of ceramic, metal and bone."

Peru says the artifacts are centuries-old Incan materials, including bronze and gold objects, mummies and other human remains, pottery, ceramics, and artworks. Peru says the most important artifacts were not returned.