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article in the New York Times about her and her husband’s attempts to regain legal ownership of the

thousands of pieces. In this piece, she exploited Yale University’s deal with Alan García as unfair and still

denying rights to the Peruvian property. The agreement with García outlined that for the pieces to be returned

to Peru, the city of Cusco would have to build a museum up to the standard of the Yale University advisors.

Yale’s intention, Karp-Toledo argued, was to keep many artifacts at the Peabody museum and stall for time.

President Toledo was an indigenous president who cared much more about all the original artifacts being

returned to Cusco. However, Yale was clearly waiting to strike a deal that benefited them, according to Karp-

Toledo. It can certainly be argued that Bingham had the right to excavate and keep the materials based on

laws of the day and the agreement between Yale and Peru – even though Bingham signed a written agreement

that he would return all of the artifacts when asked. Nonetheless, the New England university might have

assumed that Cusco would not obtain the resources to build the museum and would be able to keep the

artifacts in New Haven. In 2008, Peru sued in the U.S. federal court while Yale motioned to dismissed the

case as they claimed Peru had waited too long to ask for the artifacts. An important turning point in the

conflict was when President Alan García motioned for people to march in the streets of Lima to oppose the

American university. Karp-Toledo’s assessment of García was incorrect, as he was able to initiate talks and

become tougher when necessary.

CONCLUSION

Although he was not the discoverer of Machu Picchu, Hiram Bingham contributed greatly to the

awareness and protection of one of the new seven wonders of the world. Bingham may have been selfish and

hungry for fame, but he was completely interested in protecting the cultural property of the Incan people.

However, as time went on Yale did not stay true to its word as the items were not returned until intense

prodding from the Peruvian government. This occurred when Alan García encouraged marching which put

Yale in a negative light to the world. If Peru never motioned for loud protests, Yale may have never been

under enough pressure to give the items back. Cusco was able to provide a safe and secure location in the

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