The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office returned eight artifacts to Peru during a ceremony at the Peruvian consulate in New York on May 15.
The items returned included funerary items that were taken illegally from tombs in northern Peru during the 1960s and ’70s. The return marks the second time New York officials have repatriated a group of works to Peru.
Also among the returned objects is a copper mask believed to represent a fanged Moche deity Ai Apaec, which has historically been associated with protection. The mask, which dates to approximately 300 BCE, is believed to have been taken from Loma Negra, a burial site of Peru’s Piura Valley that was looted of Moche metalwork several decades ago. A ceramic portrait vessel dating to 1000–700 BCE from the Chavín culture, one of the earliest pre-Columbian societies in the region, was also given back last week.
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The District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit has reported that it has sent home more than 2,000 artifacts after confiscations to their countries of origin, including numerous objects to countries like Italy, Greece, and Turkey. The total value of those items is estimated to be around $250 million. New York officials have less frequently directed their attention to countries in Latin America.
The handover comes amid growing attention on antiquities in Peru, with one recent find taking place at Áspero, a coastal settlement associated with the Caral civilization, where researchers uncovered an elaborate funerary site with human remains believed to date back 5,000 years.