Peru
U.S. Protection of Archaeological and Ethnological Material
The United States
and Peru signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) on June 9, 1997, that restricts the importation of pre-Columbian
archaeological material and certain Colonial ethnological material into
the United States unless accompanied by an export permit issued by Peru.
Notice of the U.S. action and a descriptive list of the types of artifacts
subject to import restriction were published in the Federal
Register on June 11, 1997, the effective date of the import
restriction.
The MOU continues without
interruption the import restriction first applied as an emergency
measure on May 7, 1990, on Moche artifacts from the Sipan region of
northern Peru. Sipan is the site of royal tombs, the richest intact tombs
found in the Western Hemisphere, yielding artifacts of gold, gilded copper
and silver, unlike any previously known.
This U.S. action is in response
to a request from the Government of Peru under Article 9 of the 1970
UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit
Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. This
convention establishes an international framework of cooperation to stem
pillage and unauthorized transport of cultural objects across boundaries.
The United States became a party to the Convention in 1983, following
passage of the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation
Act and is able to assist another country in combating the destruction
of archaeological sites and the unauthorized removal of ethnological material
that may be communal property of indigenous groups. Both categories are
non-renewable resources and important to the cultural legacy of a nation.
II. Description
of Artifacts Subject to Restriction
In addition to providing ongoing
protection to the royal tombs of Sipan (noted above), U.S. protection
under this accord is extended to the archaeological remains of the cultural
groups that developed in Peru from approximately 12,000 B.C. to A.D. 1532,
including the Chavin, Paracas, Moche, Cuzco, Incas and other cultures
of this period. Examples of the types of archaeological materials protected
include objects made of textiles; gold, copper and silver; wood; ceramic;
and stone.
The protection also extends
to certain ethnological material from Peru produced during the Colonial
period (A.D. 1532-1821) such as objects directly related to the pre-Columbian
past and objects used for religious evangelism among indigenous peoples,
such as paintings and sculpture with distinct indigenous iconography.
A descriptive
list was published in the Federal Register notice. The Peru
Image Collection provides illustrations of some categories of restricted
objects.
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FROM THE FOLLOWING:
Peru
Image Collection
1997
Agreement
1997
Federal Register Notice (html) (text)
1990
Federal Register Notice
The
Return of a Stolen Cultural Treasure to Peru
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