U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd is trying to mediate a long-running clash between Yale University and Peru over important artifacts.
During a tour of Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru last week that included meetings with key foreign leaders, Dodd met with President Alan Garcia of Peru to discuss the potential return of the Machu Picchu artifacts.
The problem relates to the discovery of the artifacts by Hiram Bingham almost 100 years ago. Today, the artifacts are kept at Yale's Peabody Library in New Haven.
Besides Peru's president, Dodd spoke with Eduardo Ferrero, a key player who is the former Peruvian Ambassador to the United States and the lawyer for the Government of Peru in its legal case with Yale. He also conferred with former President Alejandro Toledo; Liliana Tamara Cino de Silva, the deputy secretary of cultural policy at the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Juan Ossio, a Peruvian anthropologist.
"Yale is a remarkable institution whose countless contributions to our society extend far beyond academia alone," Dodd said in a statement. "And for years, I have worked with Yale and Peru to seek a solution to this disagreement over the artifacts discovered at Machu Picchu, and housed at the Peabody Museum in New Haven.''