Robert-Goldwater-Library

Inca Show Pits Yale Against Peru

 








Images of Hiram Bingham III, the Machu Picchu exhibition, and an Inca shawl pin in the Yale Peabody Museum collection [source]

via the New York Times :

By HUGH EAKIN
Published: February 1, 2006

NEW HAVEN, Jan. 26 — By any conventional measure, Yale's exhibition about Machu Picchu would seem a windfall for Peru. As one of the most ambitious shows about the Inca ever presented in the United States, drawing over a million visitors while traveling to half a dozen cities and back again, it has riveted eyes on Peru's leading tourist attraction.

Yet instead of cementing an international partnership, the exhibition, which returned to the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale in September, has brought a low ebb in the university's relations with Peru. At issue are a large group of artifacts that form the core of the show, excavated at Machu Picchu in a historic dig by a Yale explorer in 1912. The government of Peru wants all of those objects back.

Peru contends that it essentially lent the Machu Picchu objects to the university nearly a century ago and that the university has failed to return them. Yale has staunchly rebuffed Peru's claim, stating that it returned all borrowed objects in the 1920's and has retained only those to which it has full title.

The dispute is inflamed by the swashbuckling exploits of Hiram Bingham III, a Yale professor, aviator and later senator, and the special dispensations he brokered with the Peruvian government to take Inca bones and ritual tomb objects out of Peru. Add a Peruvian president who has made the country's indigenous heritage a central theme of his administration and an Ivy League archaeology department with a towering reputation in the Inca field, and the dispute has all the ingredients of an Indiana Jones movie.

[...]

Both Yale and the Peruvians say they hope for an amicable resolution, and talks continue. In December, Yale even offered to return numerous objects to Peru and help install and maintain them in a Peruvian museum. Up to now Peruvian officials have not responded to this proposal, saying that recognition of Peru's title to the entire collection must be the basis of any agreement.

[...]

They [the objects] were removed during an authorized archaeological dig nearly a century ago; they were inspected by the Peruvian government before they left the country; and even Peruvian officials acknowledge that the objects themselves — which consist largely of bones, ceramic pots and common Inca tools — do not have great aesthetic or museum value.

On the other hand, Peru did have laws in force at the time governing archaeological finds, and its government in theory had ownership of any artifacts unearthed from Peruvian soil. As a result, the dispute has become something of a test case for the limits of cultural property claims against American institutions. [read the full article]

related reading :

The Yale Peabody Museum

Peru talks continue as lawsuit looms (Yale Daily News)

Hawaiian Is Jailed for Hiding Artifacts -- Updates!

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@ STARBULLETIN.COM
Supporters and family of imprisoned Hui Malama leader Edward Ayau held vigils earlier this week outside the Federal Detention Center to pray for his release and that 83 Hawaiian artifacts under dispute would not be retrieved from secret burial caves.

From the Honolulu Star Bulletin, via archeologymagazine.com :

Judge says Hawaiians must settle artifact fight
Tradition, not court action, would be preferable, Ezra says
By Sally Apgar
[email protected]
January 6, 2006

A FEDERAL JUDGE ordered several native Hawaiian groups yesterday to resolve their differences over the final disposition of 83 artifacts, suggesting they pursue a Hawaiian form of conflict resolution on which they can all agree.

"This is not a dispute between the federal government and native Hawaiians. It is a dispute between native Hawaiians and native Hawaiians," said U.S. District Court Judge David Ezra. "We did not file this lawsuit."

In the meantime, Ezra refused to release Edward Halealoha Ayau, leader of Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawaii Nei, from federal detention. Ayau was sent to prison last week for refusing to tell Ezra the location of the artifacts or the names of those who helped him rebury them.

[...]

Ezra said yesterday that the federal court "has the power and authority" to make a resolution "and jam it down someone's throat." However, Ezra said he prefers a "method within the framework of Hawaiian tradition" so the groups can resolve their differences "without direct court involvement."

"The whole idea is to take this out of the courtroom and put it back into the hands of the Hawaiians," he said. [read the full article]

More on the story from the Honolulu Advertiser :

This carved wood figure was among objects taken from a Big Island burial cave near Honokoa Gulch in Kawaihae by the Forbes Expedition in 1905.

Advertiser library photo

Dispute delivers praise and scorn to Hui Malama
One of the central issues is what constituted a 'loan'

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Staff Writer
January 13, 2005

[Excerpt] At the center of the dispute, which has been bubbling in Hawaiian circles for years, is the issue of a permanent home for the objects, which include a famous wooden female figure and several renowned stick 'aumakua.'

To comply with Ezra's order, Ayay said, would fly against his religious and cultural beliefs. [read the full article]

Read the original post

Met Staffer Harsh on Met Plunder

Fragmentary Calyx Krater (vase -- circa 510bc) signed by Euphronios.  Depicts the death of Kyknos in battle with Herakles.   Height 17-3/4" and 75% plastic sold at Sotheby's, New York in 1990 for $1.7m from the Nelson Bunker Hunt collection.

Image:  Sotheby's, New York  The auction catalogue reads: " The Hunt calyx krater, in grandeur of form, style and subject, relates closely to the two relatively complete examples signed by Euphronios, those in the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the first painted with the combat between Herakles and Antaios, the second with the death of Sarpedon, a subject which he repeats, later in the narrative, on the Hunt kylix."

[Click here: artnet.com Magazine Features - Super Art Gems of New York City ]

via Artnet News, 1/13/06:

ANCIENT ART IS PLUNDER: MET STAFFER
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been "supporting theft and plunder for years," according to archeologist Oscar White Muscarella -- a longtime employee of the very same museum that he so harshly criticizes. In a ferocious interview with reporter Suzan Mazur published in Scoop, an "internet news agency" based in New Zealand, Muscarella compares U.S. museums to bordellos, and says that "collecting antiquities is rape." He calls the Met’s department of Greek and Roman art "The Temple of Plunder," and extends his indictment to other museum departments as well, saying that his museum’s Asian art department holds "hundreds and hundreds [of artifacts] from temples and tombs from all over Cambodia, Thailand, China, just to decorate vitrines in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." The job of the antiquities curator, Muscarella says, is to "buy stolen art" and "get false documents."

"All these museums are actively engaged in erasing this planet’s history," Muscarella says. As an archeologist, he argues that ancient artifacts should only be excavated scientifically by professionals, with objects and their contexts carefully documented. What’s the answer to the current controversy over ownership of disputed cultural property? New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg should "order" the Met to "stop buying stolen objects right now," and telephone the Italian consul in New York and tell him to come "in 10 minutes, 15 minutes" and pick up the controversial Euphronios vase. [For a detailed report by former Met director Thomas Hoving on the museum’s so-called "Hot Pot," see "Super Art Gems of New York City," June 29, 2001.]

What’s more, Muscarella accuses New York Times art critic Michael Kimmelman, who has been critical of lax museum acquisition policies, of being "dishonest" and "getting paid to write. . . a cover up," apparently due to a perceived conflict of interest of newspaper owner Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, who is a Metropolitan Museum trustee. Muscarella refers to Kimmelman -- and other critics who review exhibitions of ancient art without mentioning "plunder" -- as "pimps." In an email, Kimmelman called Muscarella’s charges "too silly to take seriously," and says that Muscarella "clearly knows nothing" about how the Times works.

Muscarella says that the Met fired him in the early 1970s, but he was able to retain his position at the museum after a long court battle. "I just don't understand why anyone who hates museums would work in a museum," commented Met communications director Harold Holzer to the Village Voice in 2003.

related articles by Suzan Mazur (Scoop):

When A Cup Is Not A Cup: Euphronios Ancient Art In Court
Friday, 4 November 2005, 12:48 pm

The Provenance Of Bob Hecht
Tuesday, 15 November 2005, 4:03 pm

The Medici Go-Round: Sotheby's & The Signed Euphronios
Thursday, 1 December 2005, 2:12 pm

Suzan Mazur: Bob Hecht, The Younger
Tuesday, 6 December 2005, 4:58 pm

more via Artforum News:

New Anti-Trafficking Unit; Italy Proposes Deal with the Met
01.13.06 - Jason Edward Kaufman writes for the Art Newspaper on New York's first task force "dedicated to investigating and prosecuting antiquities theft and trafficking." The unit will be established by Manhattan's district attorney Robert Morgenthau and led by lawyer Matthew Bogdanos, who may be better known as the US Marine Corps Reserves colonel who led the investigation into the looting of the Baghdad Museum. Elsewhere, the New York Times's Hugh Eakin reports that the Italian government has relayed a formal proposal to the Metropolitan Museum of Art that would grant the museum special access to long-term loans in exchange for the return of twenty works of Greek and Roman art. The proposed accord would avert possible legal steps against the museum by the Italian government.

 

Repatriation of Yale's Machu Picchu artifacts

Peru talks continue as lawsuit looms
University officials hope to reach an agreement to display artifacts both here and in Peru

BY TYLER HILL, Staff Reporter
Published Tuesday, January 10, 2006 on the Yale Daily News site

Top Yale officers and Peruvian government representatives are continuing negotiations regarding artifacts recovered at Machu Picchu and brought to Yale more than 90 years ago, officials said Monday.

Peruvian officials have said that if the negotiations break down, they plan to sue the University for possession of the artifacts, which were excavated in 1911 from the ruins of the ancient Incan city by Hiram Bingham, Class of 1898. As the centennial anniversary of the rediscovery of Machu Picchu approaches, the Peruvians have begun seeking the return of the artifacts in earnest. The confidential talks between the University and Peru have remained ongoing for more than two years, said Barbara Shailor, deputy provost for the arts ... [read full story]

Native Hawaiian Leader Jailed over Artifacts

Edward Halealoha Ayau
image source

via the Honolulu Advertiser :

Group defies artifacts order
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Staff Writer

The leader of a Native Hawaiian organization yesterday was ordered jailed by U.S. District Judge David Ezra until the precise whereabouts of 83 priceless cultural artifacts are disclosed or the items are recovered.

Edward Halealoha Ayau, executive director of Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawaii Nei and other Hui Malama officials have said the items are buried in caves in Honokahua Gulch on the Kohala side of the Big Island. They maintain that providing specifics would violate their Native Hawaiian religious beliefs.

In a packed and emotionally charged courtroom, Ayau was found by Ezra to be in contempt of court and ordered incarcerated at the Federal Detention Center near Honolulu International Airport until he discloses the objects' locations, someone else discloses the locations or the objects are located and taken back to Bishop Museum.

Hui Malama borrowed the objects from the museum in 2000 and never returned them. The group said the items, known as the Forbes Cave collection, have been placed in the vicinity of where they were taken by Westerners in 1905.

Two other Native Hawaiian organizations, Na Lei Alii Kawananakoa and the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts, sued the museum and Hui Malama to force their return. Hui Malama officials have refused and said it would be sacrilegious to return them or participate in their removal. [read full article]

[...]

TIME LINE

Recent events in the case of Native Hawaiian artifacts:

August: Two Native Hawaiian groups, Na Lei Alii Kawananakoa and the Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts, sue the Bishop Museum and Hui Malama I Na Kupuna 'O Hawai'i Nei, seeking return of artifacts Hui Malama borrowed from the museum then buried in Big Island caves. At least 13 groups are seeking possession of the artifacts, which range from carved wooden statuettes of family gods, or 'aumakua, to tools and pieces of feather capes.

Sept. 2: Federal District Judge David Ezra orders the return of the artifacts to the museum so discussions among the claimants can continue.

Sept. 5: Ezra sets a Sept. 23 deadline for return of the artifacts. Ezra questions whether federal law governing the disposition of cultural objects was violated when Hui Malama received and subsequently declined to return the items.

Sept. 20: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifts the court order directing retrieval of the artifacts, ruling they may remain in the caves while Hui Malama appeals Ezra’s injunction.

Dec. 12: The appeals court affirms Ezra’s September injunction calling for the return of the artifacts.

Dec. 20: Ezra sets a Dec. 21 deadline for Hui Malama to pinpoint where each artifact is buried. The judge agrees to a request that Hui Malama members may refrain from actively participating in the removal of artifacts. The group must, however, pay for half the costs of removal while the Bishop Museum covers the rest. And the judge grants a request to keep the exact location under a court seal. The parties are directed by Dec. 28 to submit a list of three engineers who could survey the structural integrity of the caves and offer risk assessment.

Dec. 22: Ezra orders Hui Malama’s executive director Edward Halealoha Ayau and board of directors to appear before him Dec. 27 to show cause as to why they should not be held in contempt of court for failing to comply with the terms of the Dec. 21 deadline.

Dec. 27: Hui Malama’s Ayau is ordered into federal custody until the exact whereabouts of the cultural artifacts are revealed.

Check the Honolulu Advertiser archive for more articles covering Edward Halealoha Ayau and this story dating back to 2003

 

The Axum Obelisk

image source

via The Art Newspaper:
Major discovery on eve of obelisk’s return
By Martin Bailey
An important discovery has been made by Unesco archaeologists who were sent to Ethiopia to prepare for the arrival of an ancient obelisk finally returned by Italy after years of delay. At the ancient site of Axum, underground chambers and arcades were found near the original position of the obelisk, beneath an area converted into a parking lot in 1963. The Unesco team, headed by Neapolitan archaeologist Rodolfo Fattovich, found that the site had been a royal necropolis for several dynasties before the kingdom adopted Christianity in around 325 AD. Unesco director-general Koïchiro Matsuura announced that some of the tombs appeared to be intact. “Archaeological excavations would now be required to uncover possible vestiges of major historical interest”, he added. Axum, which dates from 100 BC, was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1980. The discovery, announced last month, was made in the central area of Axum, where the obelisk removed to Rome originally stood. It had been seized by Mussolini in 1937 and its return has been a long-running saga. The 25-metre-high obelisk was finally flown into Axum in three sections, between 19 and 25 April, and was greeted with major celebrations ([see pick]). The hope is that it will be re-erected by October.

image source

related:
Final obelisk section in Ethiopia
The third and final part of an ancient obelisk looted by Italy nearly 70 years ago has been returned to Ethiopia.
(BBC News, April 25, 2005)

Ethiopians celebrate obelisk return
By Amber Henshaw (BBC News, 19 April, 2005)

Aksum obelisk returns to Ethiopia
UNESCO to handle its reintegration into the World Heritage site (UNESCO, 17 March 2005)