Peru has said that Yale University has agreed to return thousands of artefacts taken from the Machu Picchu archaeological site in the Andes in the early 1900s.
According to Peruvian officials, the elite US university has some 40,000 of artefacts including pottery, jewellry and bones from the ruins of the mountaintop Incan site that is one of South America's leading tourist attractions.
President Alan Garcia said on state-run television he had worked out a deal with Yale officials and that the pieces would start arriving in Peru early next year.
'The Peruvian government is thankful for this decision and recognizes that Yale conserved these pieces, which otherwise might have fallen into private collections or been lost, and recognizes the research it conducted over the years.'
A Yale spokeswoman declined to provide immediate comment.
The artefacts were sent out of Peru after a Yale alumnus, US explorer Hiram Bingham, rediscovered Machu Picchu in 1911.
Peru contends that the objects were lent to the New Haven, Connecticut, school for 18 months but never sent back.
In the long-standing dispute, Yale showed a willingness to return the pieces under a previous agreement, so long as Peru could ensure they were cared for properly.
Critics complained that the pieces should be returned unconditionally. Peru filed a lawsuit against Yale in 2008 to get the pieces back.
Mr Garcia sent a letter to President Barack Obama last week asking for help in having the pieces returned without conditions.
Earlier this month Mr Garcia led a march through the streets of Lima to draw attention to the issue.
Yale officials are expected to meet with Peruvian officials this weekend in Lima.
At the time of Bingham's find, the ancient city - now a tourist hot spot that drives economic activity in the region of Cuzco - was essentially forgotten, covered by thick forest in the mountains 2,400 metres (8,000 feet) above sea level.
Peru is dotted with hundreds of archaeological sites and has struggled for years to fight trafficking of fossils and artefacts.
Source: RTE News [November 20, 2010]