Career diplomat uses U.N. clout to end dispute over antiquities (Peru's artifacts)

[Judi Lynn]

Career diplomat uses U.N. clout to end dispute over antiquities
Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer
Published: 09:56 p.m., Friday, November 26, 2010

GREENWICH -- His passport resembles a "bucket list."

"People often ask me in all my incarnations what is the most extraordinary experience you have had in your global travel, I always say that my overnight at Machu Picchu was just the most extraordinary, magical and mysterious," said Joseph Verner Reed, 72, a career diplomat and longtime Greenwich resident who is currently undersecretary general of the United Nations in New York City.

So when his alma mater and the government of Peru became entangled in a dispute over artifacts from the Lost City of the Incas that were excavated by explorer Hiram Bingham III and are housed at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University, Reed intervened.

"I've been working with the permanent representative (Ambassador Gonzalo Gutierrez Reinel) and arranging for President (Richard) Levin to have quiet discussions with the foreign minister of Peru," Reed told Greenwich Time in an interview Monday, a day after Yale's administration announced it had agreed to return the relics.

Discovered a century ago by Bingham, on whom some say the Indiana Jones character was based, the antiquities will be returned to Peru during the next two years.

More:
http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Career-diplomat-uses-U-N-clout-to-end-dispute-834757.php

http://www.pisqa.com.nyud.net:8090/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Demonstration-for-the-return-of-archaeological-finds-of-Machu-Picchu-held-by-the-American-University-of-Yale-November-5-2010-in-Lima-Peru.jpg

http://www.artknowledgenews.com.nyud.net:8090/files2010mar/Machu-Picchu-Hiran-Bingham-III.jpg

http://storage.canalblog.com.nyud.net:8090/24/54/119589/48480226_p.jpg http://storage.canalblog.com.nyud.net:8090/72/74/119589/54102875_p.jpg

Bone shawl pin, knife pendant

http://www.cpbn.org.nyud.net:8090/files/images/Peruvian%20pottery.img_assist_custom.jpg http://www.independent.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/multimedia/dynamic/00500/artefacts-AP_500554s.jpg

http://img3.allvoices.com.nyud.net:8090/thumbs/event/609/480/66280040-perus-president.jpg