MADRID, Spain — A treasure-filled chamber containing hundreds of museum-quality artifacts — including missing 4,000-year-old gold pieces from Peru’s glittering pre-Incan past — has been found in Spain.
Police, tipped off by Peru, tracked the trove down in a privately owned, reinforced chamber in 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.
The Peruvian pieces had disappeared after a 1997 pre-Inca exhibition, along with the exhibition’s organizer, a Costa Rican.
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.
The Associated Press
