The Destruction, Looting and Traffic of the Archaeological Heritage of Peru

Alva, W. (2001), ‘The Destruction, Looting and Traffic of the Archaeological Heritage of Peru’, in Brodie, N., Doole, J. and Renfrew, C. eds. (2001), Trade in Illicit Antiquities: the Destruction of the World’s Archaeological Heritage (Cambridge: McDonald Institute), 89–96.

A chapter in Trade in Illicit Antiquities: the Destruction of the World’s Archaeological Heritage, edited by Brodie, Doole and Renfrew concerning the looting and illicit trafficking of antiquities from Peru, particularly the looting of Sipán.

Related Encyclopedia Entries

Batán Grande

Sicán/Lambayeque cultural site systematically looted from the early 20th century to the present.

John Bourne Collection

Collection of Pre-Conquest metal objects, some of which were purchased in the United States in 1987 and were later identified as being from the site of Sipán, Peru. 

Peru v. Johnson

A civil suit filed against collector Benjamin Johnson in a US Court was ruled in favor of the defendant as the government of Peru could not prove that they were the legal owner of the objects in question.

Sipán

One of the best-known cases of archaeological looting; a Moche funerary site that was looted in 1987; the contents of an elite tomb were smuggled out of Peru and into various foreign collections.

Sipán Jewellery Offered for Sale at Sotheby’s (1994)

Several Peruvian antiquities offered for sale at Sotheby’s Auction House in 1994 that were seized by US Customs under suspicion of having been looted from Sipán.

Swetnam, Drew, Kelly Smuggling Ring of Objects from Sipán

The following is one particularly well documented incidence of the trafficking of artefacts from Sipan.