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Yale agrees to return Machu Picchu artefacts to Peru

Yale University has signed an agreement to return to Peru some 5,000 Inca artefacts removed from the famed Machu Picchu citadel nearly a century ago.

The relics - stone tools, ceramics and human and animal bones - will be housed in a new centre in the city of Cuzco.

The deal ends a long dispute over the artefacts, which were taken from Machu Picchu by American explorer Hiram Bingham in 1912.

Machu Picchu, high in the Andes, is Peru's main tourist attraction.

"This agreement ensures the expanded accessibility of these Machu Picchu collections for research and public appreciation in their natural context," Yale President Richard Levin said.

Victor Raul Aguilar, rector of San Antonio Abad University in Cuzco, said he hoped that "all who visit Machu Picchu will enrich their experience and understanding of Inca culture with a visit to the centre"....
Read entire article at BBC News