And the USA belongs to the indians...
Had Yale not retrieved them, these artifacts would have been stolen and put on the black market like so much of the rest of Peru’s pre-Colombian patrimony. See: “The Lords of Sipan” and “Stealing History,” and read about the Moche treasures and how the Peruvians themselves treat their culture treasures.
While were at it, WTF are the Elgin Marbles in England and NOT IN GREECE WHERE THEY BELONG?
First, the “people of Peru” ain’t gonna get ‘em. If we are very lucky, the government of Peru will preserve the artifacts in a museum with security and climate control and a reasonable access to the public.
More likely, it’ll be a temporary PR victory for the center-left (not Chavista, thank God) government in Peru and the artifacts will be forgotten.
And this “belong” business really bugs me. What? Just because your ancestors raped and pillaged their way to this place in antiquity, you get to own everything your eye can see? If something happens to be taken throughout history, you have some sort of blood tie to it from eternity?
I’m guessing nobody much minded that some geeky American dudes took some useless broken clay pots to Connecticut at the time and now they’re fussed all of a sudden?
You lost. Move on.
They do - belong to Peru.
Is there an argument against repatriating historic and artistic objects to the people who created them?
Think of how contact with Greek and other artifacts inspired architecture, fashion, writing, philosophy and culture in the larger world. Theses bits of stone, clay etc. were Ambassadors. Would these cultures have had as great an influence if these things had remained in the dirt where they were found? Perhaps - but I doubt it.