Back where they belong

PAOLA — The Miami County Historical Museum in Paola had some special guests Monday, Sept. 18, including a member of the Peruvian Embassy.

It’s all part of the museum’s effort to repatriate 38 pre-Columbian artifacts, including pottery and other figurines, that were donated to the museum several years ago by a private collector.

The artifacts come from Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru, and museum volunteers recently decided they should be returned to their home countries.

Gordon Geldhof, executive board member at the museum, spearheaded the project. Geldhof said the museum has a growing number of local historical pieces of memorabilia, and there just isn’t enough space for the international artifacts.

“The last thing we want is for these things to end up on the black market,” Geldhof said. “The right thing to do is to repatriate these.”

He started by reaching out to Paula Cutter-Mark on the staff of U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, and the two worked together filling out all of the necessary paperwork. They were eventually put in touch with Liliana Trelles, Consul General of the consulate general of Peru in Dallas. The consulate general of Peru is supervised by the embassy of Peru in Washington, D.C.

The museum had three haucos, finely made pottery artworks made by ancient indigenous people from what is now modern-day Peru.

The haucos are from the Nazca region in Peru, which is well known for its Nazca Lines Geoglyphs. The timeframe of the repatriated objects corresponds with when the geoglyphs were made — about 200 B.C. to 200 A.D.

Two of the three were determined to be replicas, but one was deemed a priceless authentic, and Trelles traveled to the museum in Paola on Monday, Sept. 18, to accept the gift and take it back for the country of Peru.

“We appreciate this very much,” Trelles said.

She then explained how the haucos were made and what the images could represent.

“It was a way of communication,” Trelles said as she talked about an image of a farmer on the priceless artifact. “It is a document of daily life.”

Museum president Jana Barcus officially handed the artifact over to Trelles. Also present were Geldhof, Cutter-Mark and Paola Mayor Leigh House, among other museum volunteers.

Those volunteers said the focus is now on getting in touch with representatives of the other three countries to set up similar repatriating events.

“This work exemplifies the importance of cross-cultural collaboration and a high ethical standard with a museum part of the state of the Kansas,” museum officials stated in a press release. “Returning items that belong to the cultures and peoples of other regions of the world should be the rule. The Peruvian government will now be able to showcase this cultural item in the country. The museum looks forward to returning all the other items from the different countries as soon as possible.”