Missing Peruvian pre-Incan gold artifacts found
MADRID, Spain (AP) - December 5, 2007 Police, tipped off by Peru, tracked the trove down in a
privately owned, reinforced chamber in the northwestern Spanish
city of Santiago de Compostela, the Interior Ministry said.
More than 30 of the 1,800 items were identified as belonging to
Peru's 4,000-year-old Moche Lords of Sipan tombs, officials said.
Peru had alerted Spanish authorities it suspected that items
missing following a 1997 pre-Inca exhibition were being held
illegally in Spain, the ministry said. Peruvian authorities had
lost track of the priceless pieces - as well as the exhibition's
organizer, a Costa Rican citizen.
The Sipan pieces - including 21 items made of gold, four masks
and a ceremonial costume made from gold plates - have been returned
to the Peruvian Embassy, embassy spokesman Augusto Cabrera said.
Museums worldwide were advised to check their collections for
missing art.
The Sipan tombs and temples were uncovered in the late 1980s
near Peru's northern desert coast.
