Protection of Indigenous Populations' Cultural Property in Peru, Mexico and The United States, The

Tulsa Journal of Comparative and International Law
Volume 4 | Issue 2 Article 7
3-1-1997
Protection of Indigenous Populations' Cultural

Property in Peru, Mexico and the United States,
The
Jason C. Roberts
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Jason C. Roberts, Protection of Indigenous Populations' Cultural Property in Peru, Mexico and the United States, The, 4 Tulsa J. Comp. &
Int'l L. 327 (1996).
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THE PROTECTION OF INDIGENOUS
POPULATIONS' CULTURAL PROPERTY IN
PERU, MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES
The Governor asked him how much he would give and how soon. Atahualpa
said that he would give a room full of gold. The room measured 22 feet long
by 17 feet wide, and [was to be] filled to a white line half way up its
height-[the line] he described must have been about 1.5 estados [over eight
feet] high. He said that up to this level he would fill the room with various
objects of gold-jars, pots, tiles, and other pieces. He would also give the
entire hut filled twice over with silver. And he would complete this within 2
months.
-Francisco de Xerez, November 1532'
I. INTRODUCTION
This comment will examine current international agreements and
national legislation protecting cultural property as a non-renewable
resource for the indigenous populations, and the modern nations in
which they reside as a whole, of Peru, Mexico, and the United States.
Contemporary law enforcement efforts, as well as their historical de-
velopment, regarding the protection of cultural property in Peru, Mexi-
co, and the United States will be discussed. In addition, this comment
will examine the debate concerning whether a total ban on trade in
1. Francisco de Xerez, the secretary of Francisco Marquis Pizarro, describing the ransom
of Atahualpa Inca, the last Inca ruler, was executed by the Spanish on July 26, 1533. JOHN
HEMMING, THE CONQUEST OF THE INcAs 47-48 (1970). In 1532, Francisco de Xerez, with
Spanish mercenaries, captured Atahualpa at Cajamarca, Peru. After the payment of Atahualpa's
ransom, worth about $50 million by today's bullion standards, the monarch was garroted. Thus
ended the Inca Empire, and began the exploitation of its indigenous population. MICHAEL E.
MOSELEY, THE INCAS AND THNm ANCESTORS 7 (1992).
TULSA J. COMP. & INT'L L. [Vol. 4:327
antiquities or a national and international regulated trade will provide

greater protection for cultural property.
Indigenous groups today are unable to enforce claims to their indi-
vidual cultural property before international tribunals because only
recognized nation-states are allowed to join international agreements.
The protection of indigenous populations' cultural property is left solely
to the nation-states in which these indigenous groups currently reside.
In order to provide an effective means of protecting the cultural prop-
erty of indigenous populations, this comment will argue for the inclu-
sion of indigenous groups in the process of independently enforcing
their individual cultural property rights under international agreements.
In conclusion, this comment will propose a national and international
regulated trade in cultural property with the intention to provide indige-
nous groups with the ability to maintain control over their individual
cultural property. Under this proposed regulated trade model, indige-
nous populations could designate protected cultural property that may
not enter this licit antiquities trade. Furthermore, the nation-states in
which the indigenous groups reside would provide protection to cultural
property barred from the antiquities trade, money generated by the sale
of cultural property would benefit the affiliated indigenous population,
and indigenous groups would have the ability to enforce claims to their
cultural property before international tribunals.
The primary goal of this comment is to persuade readers that the
cultural property rights of indigenous populations should be recognized;
indigenous populations should have the right to independently enforce
their cultural property rights under international agreements; and a reg-
ulated trade in antiquities should be created in order to provide greater
protection to archaeological sites and cultural property.
II. THE RELATIONSHIP OF INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS TO CULTURAL

PROPERTY, PARTICIPANTS IN THE ILLEGAL ANTIQUriFS TRADE, AND
THE IMPACr OF THE ILLEGAL TRADE IN CULTURAL PROPERTY
A. Cultural Property and Indigenous Populations

The term "cultural property"2 encompasses a vast array of objects.
2. Synonyms for cultural property include the terms "cultural patrimony" (national patri-
mony), "cultural heritage" and "antiquities." All of these words can be used interchangeably,
however, the term cultural patrimony is often applied to objects that are of such significance
that they form an integral part of the cultural heritage and identity of a particular cultural group.
Karen J. Warren, A PhilosophicalPerspective on the Ethics and Resolution of CulturalProper-
ties Issues, in ETIFcs OF COLLECTING CULTURAL PROPERTY: WHOSE CULTURE? WHOSE PROP-
ERTY? 8 (Phyllis Mauch Messenger ed., University of New Mexico Press 1989).
1997] INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS' CULTURAL PROPERTY 329
Similar to the term "art," there is not a set definition for cultural prop-
erty. Rather, a general definition for cultural property "includes all
objects produced or adopted by a given culture-that is, works of art
with special historical, archaeological, or ethnological values." 3 Cultur-
al property can be viewed as objects holding monetary value within the
international art market.4 Cultural property can also be viewed as items
that function as "a repository of cultural and traditional information,"'
which places these items beyond any monetary value assigned by the
international art market. For indigenous populations,6 cultural property
is of vital importance to their communities because these items are
often viewed as integral elements of their religion.7
The ability to retain and control significant objects of cultural
property is important for indigenous populations attempting to secure
and nourish their individual cultural heritage! Stripping indigenous
peoples of their cultural property denies these populations access to
"[A] precise and binding definition of cultural property seems to be an understandable

scientific desire but [is] beyond any practical reach." Martin Philip Wyss, The Protection of the
Cultural Heritage and its Legal Dimensions: The Heidelberg Symposium 22-23 June 1990, 1
INT'L J. CULTURAL PROP. 234 (1992).
3. RALPH E. LERNER & JuDrnH BRESLER, ART LAW: THE GUIDE FOR COuLLCrORs, IN-
VESTORS, DEALERS, AND ARTISTS 299 (1989).
See also Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Ex-
port and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, Nov. 14, 1970, art. 1, 11806 U.N.T.S.
234-236. Article 1 of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 1970
Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer
of Ownership of Cultural Property [hereinafter UNESCO Convention] defines "cultural proper-
ty" as "property which, on religious or secular grounds, is specifically designated by each State
as being of importance for archaeology, prehistory, history, literature, art or science."
4. See JOHN E. CoNKLIN, ART CRIME 187-188 (1994).
5. Robin A. Morris, Legal and EthicalIssues in the Trade in CulturalProperty, N.Z.L.J.,
Feb. 1990 at 40, 42 n.l.
6. Synonyms for indigenous population include the terms "indigenous groups," "indige-
nous people," "aboriginal people," and "aboriginal population." "Within certain jurisdictions
there are indigenous peoples sharing the territory with later arrivals, e.g. the Indians of North
America, the Aborigines of Australia, the Bushman of South Africa." 1 LYNDEL V. PROTT &
P.J. O'KEEFe, LAW AND THE CULTURAL HERITAGE 135 (1984).
"The category of indigenous peoples is generally understood to include not only the
Native tribes of the American continents, but also other culturally distinctive non-state group-
ings, such as the Australian aboriginal communities and tribal peoples of southern Asia, that are
similarly threatened by the legacies of colonialism." James Anaya, InternationalLaw and Indig-
enous Peoples, CULTURAL SURVIVAL Q., Spring 1994 at 42.
7. For a discussion of the importance of cultural property to Native American religion, see
Indian Rights: Native Americans Versus American Museums-A Battle for Artifacts, 7 AM.
INDLAN L. REV. 125, 125-127 (1979).
8. See generally, Robert T. Coulter, Commentary on the UN Draft Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples, CULTURAL SuRVtvAL Q., Spring 1994, at 37, 40-41. Catherine
Bell, Aboriginal Claims to Cultural Property in Canada: A Comparative Legal Analysis of the
RepatriationDebate, 17 AM. INDIAN L. REV. 457 (1992).
their history, cripples their present ability to retain their defining indi-
vidual cultural heritage, and jeopardizes their future generations' cul-
tural vigor.
B. The Illicit Trade in Antiquities and the Demand for Cultural

Property.
Antiquities, by definition, are rare and their finite supply designates
them as items of value. The increasing demand for cultural property as
luxury items marking social distinction, and their limited supply, have
fueled the illicit antiquities market.
The illicit trade in antiquities is a complex and multi-layered sys-
tem.9 The top echelon of the illicit antiquities trade is made up of col-
lectors, dealers, museum curators, and scholars who acquire antiqui-
ties." Smugglers are the middle-men, moving looted and stolen antiq-
uities across international borders,11 usually to the markets of "pur-
chaser nations."' 2 The activities of smugglers in source nations"s are
usually ignored by police officials, politicians, and customs agents who
often accept bribes.14 The bottom of this illicit trade system is made
up of looters or "grave-robbers," who are usually poor peasants selling
their discoveries at low prices to smugglers. 5
The trade in illicit antiquities is a multi-million dollar international
business.' 6 It is difficult to obtain accurate numbers on the value of
individual stolen cultural property and the extent of the antiquities
trade. However, estimates run from $2 billion to $6 billion annually. 7
These staggering numbers place the illicit trade in antiquities "only
9. See Jeffrey Schaire, Notes from the Editor: Shades of Gray, ART & ANTiQurrIS, May
1990, at 12.
10. See id.
11. See id.
12. Countries whose citizens purchase foreign antiquities are refened to as "purchaser na-
tions," "market nations," "collector nations," "artifact poor nations," and "demand nations."
Countries which contain large reserves of antiquities are referred to as "source nations," "na-
tions of origin," "artifact rich nations," and "supply nations." Jessica L. Darraby, Current De-
velopments in International Trade of Cultural Property: Duties of Collectors, Traders and
Claimants, in THE LAW AND BUSINESS Op ART 718 & n.50, 58 (PLI Patents, Copyrights,
Trademarks, and Literary Property Course Handbook Series No. 297, 1990). The application of
these terms to countries can be confusing because "purchaser nations" can also be "source na-
tions." The United States, Canada, Western Europe, and Japan are "purchaser nations," howev-
er, they are also "source nations" with large repositories of portable cultural property.
13. See id. at 385.
14. See Schaire, supra note 9, at 12.
15. Id.
16. See Ricardo J. Elia, PopularArchaeology and the Antiquities Market: A Review Essay,
18 J.OF FIELD ARCHAEOLOGY 95, 96 (1991).
17. See Marguerite Holloway, Trends in Archaeology: The Preservationof Past, Sci. AM.,
May 1995, at 98, 101.
behind drug smuggling and perhaps weapons trading,"'" in terms of in-

ternational illegally transferred goods.
The established traditions of the art market, which functions under
secrecy and informality, provide the ideal setting for the introduction of
stolen cultural property into the legal art market.'9 The numerous lev-
els of the illicit art market's multi-layered system insulates the partici-
pants in the Trade's upper echelon from knowledge concerning illegal
transactions.'
The demand for cultural property is fueled directly or indirectly by
scholars, museums, dealers, and collectors.2' Scholars indirectly gener-
ate demand for cultural property through discovery, research, and publi-
cation of information concerning antiquities.' Scholars also provide
authenticity or provenance to antiquities, which is of great importance
to collectors and dealers who are wary of accepting fakes into their
collections.' Museums, which are closely associated with research
and various scientific disciplines, directly and indirectly create demand
18. Ella, supra note 16, at 96.

19. See Giuliana Luna, The Protection of the Cultural Heritage:An Italian Perspective, in
THE PROTECTION OF THE ARTISTIC AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE A VIEw FROM ITALY
AND INDIA 21, at 171-81 (1976).
20. See generally Hugues de Varine, The Rape and Plunder of Cultures, in LAW, ETHICS,
AND THE VISUAL ARTS 46 (John H. Merryman & Albert E. Elsen eds., University of Pennsyl-
vania Press 1987).
21. See generally de Varine, supra note 20, at 46-53. See generally Prott & O'Keefe, supra
note 6.
22. See de Varine, supra note 20, at 47-48.
Scholarly research and publication influences the art market: If an archaeol-
ogist publishes something about an important artifact--say, end scrapers [a
stone implement that has a blunt end for scrapping]---then all of a sudden end
scrapers become items that are sold... and all of a sudden people want them
in their collections and bang! End scrapers are selling for five bucks apiece.
And that makes archaeologists awfully nervous, because every time we pub-
lish we aid and abet the market that's costing us our data base.
Spencer P.M. Harrington, The Looting of Arkansas: How One State Copes With the Erosion of
its CulturalHeritage, ARCHAEOLOGY, May/June 1991, at 28.
23. See generally Jaime Litvak King, Cultural Propery and National Sovereignty, in ETH-
ICS OF COLLECTING CULTURAL PROPERTY: WHOSE CULTURE? WHOSE PROPERTY? 204-205
(Phyllis Mauch Messenger ed., University of New Mexico Press 1989); David M. Pendergast,
And the Loot Goes On: Winning Some Battles, But Not the War, 18 J. OF FIELD ARCHAEOLOGY
89, 94 (1991).
"Artwork is generally authenticated by (a) stylistic inquiry, (b) documentation, and (c)
scientific verification." See LERNER & BRESLER, supra note 3, at 56 (1989). "Provenance" is a
term used in the art world which refers to the origin or history of an objects ownership. See
generally Jessica L. Darraby, CurrentDevelopments in International Trade of CulturalProper-
ty: Duties of Collectors, Tradersand Claimants, in THE LAW AND BUSINESS OF ART 659, 716
n. 22 (PLI Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks, and Literary Property Course Handbook Series No.
297, 1990).
for cultural property.24 Museums expand their collections through pur-

chases at public sales, from dealers, or from donations by collectors.'
The demand for cultural property created by the activities of museums
includes field research, purchases, and publicity of exhibitions.' By
themselves, museums account for a small portion of the demand in
antiquities; however, one could say that they have become the institu-
tions of its justification.' This is especially true in the United States,
where there are favorable "tax relief' incentives for the donation of fine
art objects. 28
Collectors are the greatest generators of the demand for cultural
property, especially illicitly obtained antiquities29 , and their motives
are many and varied.3" Part of the general definition for a collector
holds that such an individual "will sacrifice almost anything in order to
add to a collection, and will pursue new items with a passion that bor-
ders on the fanatic."3 Collectors care about each object within their
collection, and usually about the object's social and technological histo-
ry.32 However, most collectors do not recognize the destructive loss to
science caused by looting."
Dealers promote the demand for cultural property, providing mu-
seums and collectors with antiquities. 4 Dealers make their living from
trading in cultural property,35 and they generate demand by cultivating
24. "They play a much more extensive role in transmitting information and molding the
public's taste." LERNER & BRESLER, supra note 3, at 48.
25. "Indeed, it must be recognized that the museum is the normal final resting-place for all
cultural goods that have been shorn of their sacred and functional properties." Id.
26. See id.
27. See id. See generally CONKLIN, supra note 4, at 201-204. See generally David Wilson,
Return and Restitution: A Museum Perspective 99-106, in, WHO OWNS THE PAST? (Isabel
McBryde ed., Oxford University Press 1985); Timothy Kaiser, Dealing for Dollars, 17 J. OF
FIELD ARCHAEOLOGY 205, 205-10 (1990); Pendergast, supra note 23, at 89-95.
28. See de Varine, supra note 20, at 48. See generally Kaiser, supra note 27. See also
Pendergast, supra note 23. See also Colin Renfrew, Viewpoint: Collectors Are the Real Looters,
ARcHAEOLtoY, May/June 1993, at 16, 17 (calling for a "re-examination of the tax concessions"
for donations of antiquities made to museums).
29. See de Varine, supra note 20, at 48.
30. See id.
31. See Pendergast, supra note 23, at 91.
32. See id.
33. See id. "In the rich countries, and in the upper social classes of the poor countries, col-
lectors represent a considerable market on their own, whose operation is little known. One will
finance clandestine excavations in Peru in order to stock a private museum with gold artifacts
culled from tombs (at a cost of totally destroying the rest of the funerary furniture)." See de
Varine, supra note 20, at 48.
34. See de Varine, supra note 20, at 49. See generally Prott & O'Keefe, supra note 6, at
17.
35. See PROTr & O'KEEFE, supra note 6, at 17.
19971 INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS' CULTURAL PROPERTY 333
"a mysterious aura around their activities, referring to their intelligence
networks, keeping the sources of their merchandise secret, maintaining
an aloofness, and tantalizing prospective buyers."36 In short, unscrupu-
lous dealers treat antiquities as mere objects that are to be purchased,
traded, and resold for a profit.3
The origins of antiquities are often hidden by the art auction sys-
tem, which can provide the proper sale records necessary for the estab-
lishment of an object's provenance.38 Purchasers at auctions are not
required to identify themselves or even be present at the sale.39 Thus, a
stolen object can move from an auction house into obscurity. Addition-
ally, the laws of some countries act to obscure the origins of stolen
antiquities. For example, Switzerland allows individuals to deposit
artworks in their banks. After five years, as long as the individual was
not the thief, the artwork becomes the depositor's property."
C. The Effect of the Illicit Trade in Cultural Property on the
Archaeological Record.
The illicit trade in cultural property, through the looting of archae-
ological sites, causes irreparable harm to the archaeological record&4 '
and the archaeological context.42 Individuals who locate antiquities
will completely loot the surrounding area, which destroys much of the
archaeological information that can be gleaned from the site.
In order to obtain information on the behavior of past communities,
archaeologists employ careful methods of excavation when they exam-
ine an archaeological site.43 However, looters"4 do not practice these
36. CONKLIN, supra note 4, at 195.

37. "Legitimate dealers are angered by brokers and private dealers who trade in stolen art,
because those brokers and private dealers both victimize legitimate dealers and hurt their repu-
tations, making it difficult for them to win the trust of potential clients." Id.
38. See CONKLIN, supra note 4, at 159, 161, 269-270 ("[a]lthough unscrupulous antiquities
dealers, curators, and collectors have traditionally hidden their dealings behind a veneer of
genteel and sophisticated respectability, the illegal art trade is, in reality, a dirty business in-
volving dirty money."). See also Elia, supra note 16, at 96.
39. See generally CONKLIN, supra note 4, at 38-43, 110-11.
40. See Anthony J.Del Piano, The Fine Art of Forgery, Theft, and Fraud: Corruption in
the World of Art and Antiquities, CRIM.Jus., Summer 1993, at 16, 17.
41. "The archaeological record is the data amassed from survey and excavation," and repre-
sents the materials that make up world history. BRIAN M. FAGAN, PEOPLE OF THE EARTH: AN
INTRODUCTION TO WORLD PREHISTORY 15 (1992).
42. Archaeological context refers to "the material remains of past sociocultural sys-
tems-the pottery fragments, stone flakes, and crumbled house foundations that exist in the
presenL" Guy GIBBON, ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 417 (1984).
43. See CONKLIN, supra note 4, at 228.
44. The term "looter" refers to any individual who loots archaeological sites without the use
of established archaeological methods. The practice of looting in Peru is usually carried out by
poor peasants referred to as "huaqueros." The pay the huaqueros receive is very low for the
careful techniques.45 Rather, objects of scientific value are damaged or

destroyed by looters in their quest for salable antiquities.' After loot-
ers have removed the artifacts 7 they recover from an archaeological
site, the historical value of that site is often destroyed.' Furthermore,
the looting of an archaeological site causes the loss of scientific infor-
mation, which includes remains of ancient floors and fires, traces of
change in soil color, botanical remains, the position of human remains,
and the relation between interred objects.49 All of this information,
which is vital for the reconstruction of past life ways, is lost when in-
dividuals loot an archaeological site for salable objects.'
The looting of archaeological sites does not just rob the cultural
heritage of a local community associated with the site's remains or the
entire nation in which it is located. Rather, a looted archaeological site
represents an irreplaceable loss to the worlds' cultural heritage, through
the loss of information concerning the behavior of a past community or
civilization.
back breaking work they do, which strips their country of its cultural heritage. See generally
Carol L. Howell, Daring to Deal with Huaqueros, ARCHAEOLOGY, May/June 1992, 56-58; Carl
Nagin, The Peruvian Gold Rush, ART AND ANTIQUITIES, May 1990, 98-105, 134-45.
Looters can be organized and well-funded groups. For example "pot hunters" paid
$10,000 in 1987 to the owners of Slack Farm, near Uniontown, Kentucky, for the right to "ex-
cavate" their land. The Slack Farm area had included an undisturbed Native American archaeo-
logical site, which was occupied between 1450 and 1650 C.E. After paying the owners, the
looters used a tractor to bulldoze through the old village to reach the graves. Bones, potsherds,
stone implements, and hearths were pushed aside in search of salable grave goods. When the
looters finished, the Slack Farm site was full of shovel holes and gaping trenches. Unfortunate-
ly, looting on this devastating scale is commonplace in the United States. See FAGAN, supra
note 41, at 18.
Not only do looters cause damage to archaeological sites, they will occasionally break up
antiquities in order to get them past customs or to sell easier. See CONKLIN, supra note 4, at
252.
45. See generally Howell, supra note 44.
46. See id. "It is tragically clear that wiping out a site can wipe out cultural identi-
ty-something that happens when ethnic groups clash, each trying to obliterate the culture of
the other. China's razing of the monasteries of Tibet is but one example." Holloway, supra note
17, at 101.
47. The term "artifact" encompasses any form of archaeological discovery, which includes
stone axes, pottery, butchered animal bones, and "manifestations of human behavior found in
archaeological sites." See FAGAN, supra note 41, at 17-18.
48. See generally Clemency Coggins, Archaeology and the Art Market, 175 Sci. 263
(1972).
49. See generally id.
50. See generally id.
III. INTERNATIONAL ATTEMPTS AND PROTECTIVE MEASURES IN PERU,

MEXICO, AND THE UNITED STATES TO HALT THE ILLEGAL
TRADE IN CULTURAL PROPERTY
A. InternationalLaw Protecting CulturalProperty

Two early attempts to protect cultural property include a Papal
Bull, issued in 1462 by Pope Pius II, which sought to control the exca-
vation of relics in the Papal States, and a Royal Proclamation in 1666
forbidding the destruction of ancient monuments in Sweden."' During
the mid-1800s numerous nation-states began to adopt legislation regu-
lating the ownership, export, and excavation of antiquities, artwork, and
cultural property."
The Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Prop-
erty in the Event of Armed Conflict (Hague Convention) was the first
modem international agreement to protect artwork, which developed as
a direct result of the destruction caused by the bombing and plundering
during the World Wars.53 The Hague Convention prohibits looting or
the destruction of art objects during war, with an exception for cases of
military necessity.54 The most recent invocation of the Hague Conven-
tion occurred during the Iraqi Persian Gulf Conflict of 1991, where
claims of damage to cultural property were made against the govern-
ment of Iraq. 5 The Hague Convention developed a preventative meth-
od for protecting cultural property from looting, however, it is only
applicable during military conflict.'
A more comprehensive effort to protect cultural property, through
the restriction of the illicit trade in antiquities, during times of peace is
the United Nation's 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Pro-
hibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Own-
ership of Cultural Property (UNESCO Convention). The UNESCO
51. See PRoTr & O'KEE, supra note 6, at 453.

52. See id. at 454. During the eighteenth century, the principles of protecting cultural prop-
erty during warfare began to develop and were first codified under the "Lieber Code" of 1863.
See also SHARON A. WaLAMS, THE INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL PROTECTION OF MOV-
ABLE CULTURAL PROPERTY: A CoMPARATvE STUDY 15 (1978).
53. See Barbara Hoffman, The Spoils of War, ARCHAEOLoGY, Nov/Dec 1993, at 37. See
generally LYNN H. NiCHOLAS, THE RAPE of EUROPA (1994). See generally JOHN H.
MERRYMAN & ALBERT E. ELsEN, LAw, ETHIcs, AND THE VISUAL ARTS 34-35 (1987).
54. Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, May
14, 1954, 249 U.N.T.S. 240. As of January 1, 1992, seventy-six nations were parties to this
convention. However, the United States has not joined.
55. See David A. Meyer, The 1954 Hague Cultural Property Convention and its Emergence
into Customary InternationalLaw, 11 B.U. INT'L LJ. 349, 371-77 (1993).
56. See Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict,
supra note 54.
57. Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and
Convention established principles for the control of the international

trade in cultural property" by enabling nations to enter into pacts for
the enforcement of each other's individual cultural property laws."
Agreements made between nations, pursuant to the UNESCO Conven-
tion, provide aggrieved nations with the ability to pursue claims for
illegally transferred cultural property in foreign jurisdictions through the
granting of standing to member nations and enabling the enforcement of
national antiquities laws in the courts of the signatories.' Rather than
the Hague Convention's focus on the importance of cultural property to
the world's heritage, the UNESCO Convention attempts to protect the
individual cultural property of individual nations.
To date, the UNESCO Convention has been signed and ratified by
seventy-eight nations," most of which are "Third World" source na-
tions that are ex-colonies 2 The UNESCO convention requires nations
to: develop an export licensing systems; appropriate funds for scientific
excavations; publicize losses of important cultural property; publicize
their restrictions on the trading of cultural property; require dealers to
record their acquisitions and transactions; prohibit unauthorized imports;
help repatriate illegally exported cultural property; and compile invento-
ries of their important artworks, monuments, and sites.63 Some source
nations did not ratify the UNESCO Convention because they could not
afford to implement its requirements.' Additionally, many European
purchaser nations refused to sign on to the UNESCO Convention be-
cause it was incompatible with current Common Market regulations,
they did not want to repatriate previously acquired cultural property
resting within their museums, and they already had established systems
to protect their own cultural property.' Currently, the only major art
importing countries to join the UNESCO Convention are the United
States", Australia67 , and Canada." The United States Senate gave its
Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, Nov. 14, 1970, 823 U.N.T.S. 232 (provides protec-
tion of cultural property and heritage by prohibiting illegal transfers).
58. See Leo J. Harris, From the Collector's Perspective: The Legality of Importing Pre-
Columbian Art and Artifacts, in ETHIcs OF COLLECTING CULTURAL PROPERTY: WHOSE CiL-
TIJRE? WHOSE PROPERTY? 163-164 (Phyllis Mauch Messenger ed., 1989).
59. See generally CONKLIN, supra note 4, at 280-284.
60. See id.
61. See Barbara Borst, Africa: Fight Intensifies Against Theft of Native Treasures, INTR
PRESS SERvicE, Nov. 14, 1994, at 2,availablein LEXIS, News Library, Cumws File.
62. See CONKLIN, supra 4, at 280. The United States, Mexico, and Peru have joined the
UNESCO Convention. See Harris, supra note 58, at 163.
63. See CONKLIN, supra note 4, at 280. See also UNESCO Convention, supra note 3, art.
5(a)-(g), art. 6(a)-(c), and art. 7(b)(i).
65. See id. at 281-282. See also Harris, supra note 58, at 165.
66. See Convention on Cultural Property, 19 U.S.C. § 2601-13 (1988). See CONKLIN, supra
consent to ratification of the UNESCO Convention in 1972, with seven

reservations and understandings." However, the United States Con-
gress did not pass the implementing legislation, necessary to fulfill the
obligations established by the UNESCO Convention, until January 12,
1983.70 In 1983, the United States Congress passed the Convention on
Cultural Property Implementation Act,7' enabling a foreign nation to
ask the United States to place restrictions on the importation of spe-
cifically defined categories of archaeological antiquities which are part
of its patrimony and in danger of being looted." In short, this Act al-
lows the United States President to enter into bilateral treaties, pursuant
to the UNESCO Convention, restricting the importation of cultural
property from nations that request cooperation. At this writing, the
United States has entered into treaties restricting the importation of des-
ignated cultural property with Mexico,73 Peru,74 Guatemala,7 5 Boliv-
ia,76 Ecuador,' and El Salvador.78 The United States has only en-
note 4, at 28 1.
67. Australia's enabling legislation for the UNESCO Convention is the 1986 Protection of
Movable Cultural Heritage Act. See Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act, 1986 Austl.
C. Acts 11. See also Jerry Theodorou, A New International Law for Antiquities?, MINERVA,
March/April 1992, at 32.
68. Canada joined the UNESCO Convention in 1978, making cultural property claims of
reciprocating nations enforceable within Canadian courts under the Cultural Property Export and
Import Act, S.C., ch. 50, § 31(2) (1975) (Can.).
69. See Harris, supra note 58, at 164.
70. See id.
71. See 19 U.S.C. §2601-13 (1988). See also CONKLIN, supra note 4, at 281.
73. See Treaty of Cooperation between the United States of America and the United Mexi-
can States Providing for the Recovery and Return of Stolen Archaeological, Historical, and
Cultural Properties, July 17, 1970, U.S.-Mex., 22 U.S.T. 494, 1970.
74. See Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Peru for the
Recovery and Return of Stolen Archaeological, Historical, and Cultural Properties, Sep. 15,
1981, U.S.-Peru, 33 U.S.T. 1607, 1981.
75. See Agreement Between the United States of America and Guatemala for the Recovery
and Return of Stolen Archaeological, Historical, and Cultural Properties, May 21, 1984, U.S.-
Guat., T.I.A.S. No. 11,077, 1984.
76. See Bolivia was granted protection for antique ceremonial textiles belonging to the
Aymara indigenous population from Coroma, Bolivia. CONKLIN, supra note 4, at 282. See also
Import Restrictions on Cultural Textile Artifacts from Bolivia, 54 Fed. Reg. 10.618-19 (1989).
77. See Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Ecuador for
the Recovery and Return of Stolen Archaeological, Historical, and Cultural Properties, Nov. 17,
1983 U.S.-Ecuador, T.I.A.S. No. 11,075, 1983.
78. See Import Restrictions on Archaeological Material from El Salvador, 52 Fed. Reg.
34,614 (1987). El Salvador receives protection for pre-Columbian antiquities from the Cara
Sucia Archaeological Region. For information concerning El Salvador's request for emergency
import restrictions, See Ann Guthrie Hingston, U.S. Implementation of the UNESCO Cultural
Property Convention, in ETHIcs OF COLLECrING CULTURAL PROPERTY: WHOSE CULTURE?
tered into six treaties for the protection of cultural property from source
nations because it is difficult for source nations to create specific lists
of cultural property to be protected and the low priority political leaders
place on the protection of their nations' cultural property.79
The UNESCO Convention is "widely regarded as ineffectual""0
because the major art importing nations of Western Europe and Japan
have failed to join.8" Many UNESCO Convention provisions are slant-
ed in favor of source nations and the transaction costs of litigation are
placed on the purchaser nations. 2 Therefore, nations that purchase art
and have the resources to protect their individual cultural property have
no incentive to join the UNESCO Convention, other than the fear of
becoming entangled in an embarrassing international incident.8 3 Addi-
tionally, the provisions of the UNESCO Convention have been "watered
down" by the United States' enabling legislation, the 1983 Convention
on Cultural Property Implementation Act. 4 The Convention on Cultur-
al Property Implementation Act allows the President to place import
restrictions only on designated archaeological and ethnological objects
on a country-by-country basis. 5 The Act places limits on archaeologi-
cal and ethnological objects holding that "archaeological material" must
be, "of cultural significance; at least 250 years old; and normally dis-
covered as a result of scientific excavation, clandestine or accidental
digging, or exploration on land or under water."86 The Act also holds
that "ethnological material" must be "the product of a tribal or nonin-
dustrial society and important to the cultural heritage of a people be-
cause of its distinctive characteristics, comparative rarity, or its contri-
WHOSE PROPERTY? 134-137 (Phyllis Mauch Messenger ed., 1989).

80. Theodorou, supra note 67, at 32.
81. See id.
82. "The UNESCO Convention was seen as a non-starter by the Europeans and Japan be-
cause it was seen as favoring too heavily the interests of the art-exporting nations and aligned
constituents." Theodorou, supra note 67, at 32.
83. Purchaser nations "have increasingly returned stolen and illegally exported objects to
the countries from which they came, often publicizing the repatriation of those objects to maxi-
mize good will." CONKLIN, supra note 4, at 282.
84. See Theodorou, supra note 67, at 32.
The United States ratification of the UNESCO Convention "includes no provisions for
export permits, dealer registration, regulation of museums, nor does it recognize the definitions
of cultural property used by other signatories." Ellen Herscher, International Control Efforts:
Are There Any Good Solutions?, in ETHIcs OF COLLECrING CULTURAL PROPERTY: WHOSE
CuLTLRE? WHOSE PROPERTY? 119 (Phyllis Mauch Messenger ed. 1989)).
85. See Hingston, supra note 78, at 131-32.
86. Id. See also Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act of 1983, Pub. L. No.
97-446, Title III § 302, Jan. 12, 1983, 96 Stat. 2351 (codified at 19 U.S.C. § 2601-2613 (1988
& Supp. 1994)).
bution to the knowledge of the origins, development, or history of that

people."87 Because of these limitations, only a few cases involving
pre-Columbian cultural property have successfully invoked the Act.8
Due to the limited usefulness of the UNESCO Convention, the
International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT)
has been working to develop a more effective means of controlling the
illicit trade in cultural property.89 UNIDROIT has been attempting to
codify the international law concerning cultural property since 1984, at
the request of UNESCO.' The UNIDROIT Convention members,
made up of experts from around the world, are attempting to reconcile
the rights of good faith purchasers in purchaser nations and the need to
protect the cultural property of source nations.9 Although there is
great hope for the UNIDROIT Convention proposal, it is unlikely, due
to a number of unresolved issues, that there will be any consensus
soon.9
B. Peruvian Legislation Protecting CulturalProperty
Today, nations employ three basic types of laws to provide protec-
tion to their cultural property.93 The first category of these laws is
termed selective export controls, or screening, which are implemented
in order to retain only those cultural objects deemed to be the most im-
portant, while allowing a general free trade in all other items.94 This
control method has been adopted in Canada, Japan, and the United
Kingdom." The second category involves a total ban on the export of
cultural property." This method of protection is used by some Latin
American nations, the People's Republic of China, and a few Mediter-
ranean countries.' Finally, many nations, such as Peru and Mexico,
87. See Hingston, supra note 78, at 131-32. See also Cultural Property Implementation Act
of 1983, 19 U.S.C. § 2601-2613 (1988 & Supp. 1994)).
89. See id.
90. See Theodorou, supra note 67, at 32. See generally Jerome M. Eisenberg, Conservation
and the Antiquities Trade, MINERVA, March/April 1994, at 38. See also Preliminary Draft
UNIDRO1T Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects, arts. 1-10, reprinted
in abbreviated version in Jerome M. Eisenberg, The UNIDROIT Convention on the International
Return of Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects: Report on the FourthMeeting, MINER-
VA, March/April 1994 at 41.
92. For list of unresolved issues, see Eisenberg, supra note 90, at 41-42.
93. See Herscher, supra note 84, at 118.
94. See id.
95. See id.
96. See id.
97. See id.
declare national ownership of certain types of cultural property, includ-

ing undiscovered cultural property.9"
The current population of Peru is 24,087,372," with forty-five
percent of this demographic statistic belonging to various indigenous
groups'" and thirty-seven percent being made up of Mestizos.'
Based on these population demographics, one could make the argument
that Peru is an "Indian Nation." However, the political power and econ-
omy of Peru is controlled by the minority European population and
some Mestizos. This could explain the history of indifference officials
within the Peruvian Government have held toward the looting of its
nation's indigenous populations cultural heritage."° Peru has a long
history of looting, °3 and the legal mechanisms for the protection of
its cultural property were slowly established."' The first effort to
guard Peru's cultural heritage occurred in 1822, when the Spanish colo-
nies sought their independence. 5 During this period "a decree was
passed forbidding the excavation of prehispanic monuments and provid-
ing for the creation of a national museum."" This decree was reaf-
firmed by another in 1837, and in 1893 an additional decree was creat-
ed out of concern for the exportation of cultural property."l The 1893
decree declared that excavations could not take place without a license,
all Pre-Columbian structures were Peruvian national monuments, and a
Bureau for the Preservation of Antiquities should be established. 8
Furthermore, the 1893 decree allowed excavators to keep archaeological
98. See id.

99. See THE WORLD ALMANAC AND BOOK OF FACTS 1996 807 (World Almanac Books
1996) [hereinafter "Almanac"].
100. See id. There are too many indigenous "Indian" groups within Peru to be fully de-
scribed in this article.
101. See id. The term "Mestizo" refers to a mixed population of indigenous "New World"
peoples and Europeans. See also MICHAEL D. COE, MEXICO: FROM THE OLMECS TO THE AZ-
TECS 202.
102. Prior to the Inca Empire, numerous Andean civilizations existed in Ecuador, Peru, Bo-
livia, Chile, and Argentina. See generally RICHARD W. KEATINGE, PERUVIAN PREHISTORY: AN
OVERVIEW OF PRE-INCA AND INCA SOCIETY (1988).
103. The looting of the indigenous populations' archaeological sites has a long history in
Peru, which stretches back to the Spanish Conquest of 1532. A single example of this occurred
when the invading Spanish looted the Huaca del Sol, an enormous Moche pyramid near present
day Trujillo, by diverting a river to scour away a side of the structure. The operation uncovered
great quantities of gold objects that were melted down for bullion. See generally Christopher
Donnan, Masterworks of Art Reveal a Remarkable Pre-Inca World, 177 NATIONAL GEOGRAPH-
IC 17, 17-33 (1990).
104. See PROrr & O'KEEFE, supra note 6, at 59.
105. See id. at 60.
106. Id.
107. See id.
108. See id.
discoveries; however, duplicates, photographs, and detailed information

had to be provided to the Peruvian state.'09 In 1911 another decree
amended the decree of 1893, providing that original artifacts recovered
from 0archaeological excavations were to be the property of the
state."
In 1929 Peru passed Law No. 6634,"' which became the most
important legal instrument for the protection of its cultural property." 2
Under Law No. 6634, all pre-Columbian antiquities and monumental
architecture are considered to be the property of the Peruvian na-
tion," 3 extending the state's protection beyond artifacts not in private
collections to those possessed as individual property." 4 The exception
to Law No. 6634, which allowed one to maintain their property rights
to cultural property, covers antiquities that were in private collections
when the law was enacted and properly registered with the Peruvian
government within one-year of the establishment of the register."'
Additionally, this law prohibits the export of cultural property from the
nation of Peru without the government's permission." 6 Antiquities can
be used by private Peruvian citizens and these "user rights" can be sold;
however, non-citizens are not allowed to participate in this trade." 7 In
addition, national and foreign scientific institutions, with permission of
the Peruvian government, can investigate and study pre-Columbian
antiquities."'
Although Law No. 6634 provides for the protection of artifacts
within the borders of Peru, laws that declare national ownership of
109. See id.

111. See Law No. 6634 of June 13, 1929 [hereinafter "Law No. 6634"] reprinted in Frederic
J. Truslow, Peru's Recovery of Cultural Patrimony, 15 N.Y.U. J. Int'l L. & Pol. 839 n.15
(1983). Regulations under the Law were adopted as Supreme Resolution No. 49 of Mar. 31,
1933.
112. See PRaOr & O'KEEFE, supra note 6. at 60. Law No. 24047. On January 5, 1985, Law
No. 6634 was repealed by the Peruvian government and replaced by Law No. 24047. On Febru-
ary 27, 1985, the government of Peru passed a decree stating that pre-Columbian art objects
"belonging to the nations's cultural wealth are untouchable." On June 22, 1985, the Peruvian
government passed a law establishing that all "archaeological sites belong to the state." In Peru
v. Johnson, the court held the view that the new Peruvian law meant antiquities discovered
between January 5, 1985 and June 22, 1985 were private property and not the property of the
Peruvian nation. See Peru v. Johnson, 720 F. Supp. 810 (C.D.Cal. 1989).
113. See Truslow, supra note 111, at 841.
115. See Law No. 6634, supra note 111, arts. 4 & 11. See also Truslow, supra note 111, at
841-42.
116. See Law No. 6634, supra note 111, art. 10. See also Truslow, supra note 111, at 842.
See also PROTT & O'KEEFE, supra note 6, at 60-1.
117. See Truslow, supra note 111, at 842-43.
118. See PROTr & O'KEEFE, supra note 6, at 60-1.
TULSA J. COMP. & INT'L L. [Vol. 4.327
certain types of cultural property have proven to be ineffective in halt-

ing the illicit international trade in antiquities because they are only en-
forceable within countries that have adopted them." 9 Due to a flour-
ishing illegal trade of cultural property from Peru to the United States,
the Peruvian government sought to achieve an agreement with the Unit-
ed States that would allow Peru to seek the repatriation of stolen antiq-
uities.2 At the request of the Peruvian Ambassador Fernando
Schwalb Lopez Aldana, coupled with the severe damage known to be
occurring to Peru's cultural history, the United States agreed to the
creation of an agreement between the two nations for the protection of
Peruvian cultural property."' On September 15, 1981, the United
States and Peru signed the Agreement Respecting the Recovery and
Return of Stolen Archaeological, Historical, and Cultural Properties
(Executive Agreement). 22
The 1981 Executive Agreement between the United States and Peru
is not a treaty."z Rather, the Executive Agreement is an accord be-
tween the two nations that cannot change the existing provisions of
either Peru or the United States. 4 Therefore, the Executive Agree-
ment does not provide provisions authorizing the United States govern-
ment to engage in legal actions on Peru's behalf."z However, this
agreement is significant because each nation has agreed to use their
legal mechanisms for the recovery and return from its territory stolen
archaeological, historical, and cultural properties that have been illegal-
ly removed from either nations' territory.' 6 Furthermore, the Execu-
tive Agreement provides that each nation will inform the other of stolen
cultural property from its borders; requires the two nations to take
actions to detect and locate the entry of stolen antiquities into their
territory and return the items; or help facilitate a private action for the
return of this property to its place of origin. 7 Finally, the Executive
agreement provides that expenses incurred in returning cultural property
will be paid by the requesting nation."
119. See Herscher, supra note 84, at 118.

120. Peru Wages Campaign to Halt Trade in Stolen Art Treasures, N.Y. TIMES, Oct. 4,
1981, at 13, reprintedin JOHN H. MERRYMAN AND ALBERT E. ELSEN, LAW, ETHICS, AND TmE
VisuAL ARTS 59 (1987).
122. See Agreement Respecting the Recovery and Return of Stolen Archaeological, Histori-
cal and Cultural Properties, Sept. 15, 1981, United States-Peru, T.I.A.S. No. 10,136. See also
Truslow, supra note 111, at 845.
124. See id.
125. See id.
126. See id.
127. See id.
128. See id.
Based on the Executive Agreement between the United States and

Peru, one would assume that there would be few problems inhibiting
the return of stolen Peruvian cultural property recovered in the United
States. However, in Peru v. Johnson, the Court held that Peru was
required to prove that the antiquities in question were excavated illegal-
ly from the Peruvian nation. 29 The Court came to this decision due to
a loophole or ambiguities in the Peruvian nationalization laws, 30 and
because expert testimony revealed that the antiquities in question could
have originated in Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, or Bolivia.' 3' Naturally,
Peru was unable to meet this overwhelming burden, and the antiquities
in question were returned to the American dealer.' The Court's rul-
ing in Peru v. Johnson, concerning ownership disputes, favors the an-
tiquities purchaser unless the claimant nation can prove that the cultural
property in question originated from within its geographical boundaries.
The ruling of the Court in Peru v. Johnson is a set back to the
Peruvian government's attempts to reclaim stolen property from the
United States and halt the looting of its archaeological sites. Peru is
now forced to prove that cultural property it claims originated from
within its borders, even if these antiquities clearly represent a culture
that once occupied Peruvian territory. This, of course, is difficult be-
cause many of Peru's past indigenous cultures were not confined to the
modem borders of the Peruvian nation.'33 Therefore, for Peru to prove
that stolen antiquities originated from within its borders, it would have
to police and record all of its archaeological sites. At the moment this
is beyond the abilities of the Peruvian government."'
129. See Peni v. Johnson, 720 F.Supp. 810, 810-815 (C.D.Cal. 1989).
130. Id.
131. See generally MOSELEY, supra note 1, The extent of the Pre-Columbian "Peruvian" or
Andean cultures spread beyond the modem boundaries of Columbia, Ecuador, Chile, Peru,
Bolivia, and Argentina. See also Peru v. Johnson, 720 F. Supp. at 810-815.
132. The Court in Peru v. Johnson held:
Peru may not prevail in this action to recover the artifacts here concerned
because:
(a) We do not know in what country they were found and from which they
were exported.
(b) If they were found in Peru, we do not know when.
(c) We do not know if they were in private possession in Peru more than one
year after the official registry book was opened.
(d) The extent of Peru's claim of ownership as part of its domestic law is
uncertain.
See Peru v. Johnson, 720 F. Supp. at 815.
133. See generally MOSELEY, supra note 1.
134. See CONKLIN, supra note 4, at 259. Peru has a multitude of problems which drain re-
sources that could be used to protect its cultural heritage. Peru must divert its resources to deal
with rebels, drug trafficking, and an impoverished indigenous population. There is not enough
money for Peru to police its 60,000 known archaeological sites. See also Nagin, supra note 44,
The overwhelming majority of Peru's archaeological sites represent

past indigenous cultures, from which the modem indigenous popula-
tions are descended. The cultural heritage of Peru's indigenous peoples
is endangered by looters, 135 smugglers, dealers, collectors, poverty,
and the inability of international agreements to place substantial barriers
to the international illicit trade in cultural property.
C. Mexican Legislation ProtectingCultural Property

The population of Mexico is 93,985,848,136 with thirty percent of
this population belonging to numerous indigenous groups 3 ' and sixty
percent being composed of Mestizos. 3 ' Like Peru, Mexico had a long
and complex history prior to the European colonization. 39 Additional-
ly, the indigenous population of Mexico suffered a substantial drop
shortly after the Spanish colonization," 4t an event which occurred in
all the European colonies of North and South America.
After Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, interest4'
began to grow in the archaeological sites located within its borders.'
Despite the developing interest in the history of indigenous culture, no
action was taken to preserve Mexico's cultural property until a 1897
law was enacted declaring all archaeological monuments to be the prop-
erty of the state and prohibiting their removal "without express authori-
zation of the Executive of the Union."' 42 The Law on Archaeological
Monuments of 1897 (Law of 1897) also proclaimed that movable cul-
tural property could not be exported without legal authorization. 43
In 1930 Mexico enacted a second law to protect cultural property,
The Law on the Protection and Conservation of Monuments and Natu-
at 102-03.
135. See generally Nagin, supra 44, at 102.
136. See Almanac, supra note 99, at 797.
137. See id. There are too many indigenous groups within Mexico to be fully described in
this article.
138. See id.
139. Some Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican Civilizations that developed within the borders of
modem Mexico include the Olmecs, Zapotecs, Mayans, Toltecs, and Aztecs. See generally COE,
supra note 101.
140. Prior to the Spanish conquest of 1519, the indigenous population of central Mexico was
estimated to have numbered eleven million people. By 1650 there were only 1.5 million indig-
enous people remaining within central Mexico. See COE, supra note 101, at 202.
142. Ley Sobre Monumentos Arqueologicos, (Law On Archaeological Monuments), art. 1,
Diario Oficial de la Federacion, May 11, 1897 (hereinafter "Law of 1897"), reprinted in
LEONARD D. DuBoFF, THE DESK BOOK OF ART LAW 975 (1977 and Supp. 1984, V 1-19).
Monuments were defined as city ruins, fortifications, palaces, pyramids, temples, sculpted or
inscripted rocks, and edifices interesting for the study of Mexican history. art. 2.
143. See id. art. 6.
ral Beauty of 1930 (Law of 1930).'" The Law of 1930 defined mon-
uments as being both movable and immovable objects, 45 and it al-
lowed private ownership of antiquities.'" However, cultural property
could not be exported without governmental consent 47 and the gov-
ernment retained the right of first refusal over antiquities offered for
sale."4 Furthermore, any important antiquities recovered by unautho-
rized9 or authorized excavations were considered to be national proper-
14
ty.
Mexico's enactment of The Law for the Protection and Preserva-

tion of Archaeological and Historic Monuments, Typical Towns and
Places of Scenic Beauty of 1934 (Law of 1934) was an expansion of
the government's control over Pre-Columbian cultural property."ts The
Law of 1934 reaffirmed export restrictions on cultural property and de-
clared immovable objects, and items located within immovable objects,
to be the property of the state.' 5' In addition to the provisions of the
Law of 1930, the Law of 1934 required privately held movable cultural
property to be registered on "The Register of Private Archaeological
Property."'' 2 Any Pre-Columbian cultural property not registered with-
in two years of its discovery was assumed to be the property of the
Mexican nation and its export was restricted.'53
In 1970 Mexico passed another law intended to protect cultural
property, The Federal Law Concerning Cultural Patrimony of the Na-
tion (Law of 1970)." The Law of 1970 declared that the ownership
144. See Leslie S. Potter and Bruce Zagaris, Toward a Common U.S.-Mexican Cultural
Heritage: The Need for a Regional Americas Initiative in the Recovery and Return of Stolen
Cultural Property, 5 TRANSNAT'L LAW. 627, 668 (1992). See also Law on the Protection and
Conservation of Monuments and Natural Beauty, 58 D.O. 7 (Jan. 31, 1930) [hereinafter "Law
of 1930"], reprinted in DUBOFF, supra note 142, at 976-980 (1977).
145. See Law of 1930, supra note 144, art. 1
146. See id. art. 16.
147. See id. arts. 19 and 20.
148. See id. art. 16
149. See id. art. 27.
150. See Clifton E. Wilson, The Maya Crisis and the Law: Current United States Legal
Practice and the InternationalLaw of the Maya Antiquities Trade, 1 ARIz. J. INT'L & COMP. L.
283, 294 (1982). See also Law for the Protection and Preservation of Archaeological and His-
toric Monuments, Typical Towns and Places of Scenic Beauty, 82 D.O. 152 (Jan. 19, 1934)
[hereinafter "Law of 1934"], reprinted in DuBOFF, supra note 142, at 972-74 (1977).
151. See Law of 1934, supra note 150, art. 4. Archaeological monuments were defined as
"all vestiges of the aboriginal civilization dating from before the completion of the Conquest."
Id. art. 3.
152. Id. art 9.
154. See FEDERAL LAW CONCERNING CULTURAL PATRIMONY OF THE NATION, 303 D.O. 8
(Dec. 16, 1970) [hereinafter "Law of 1970"], reprinted in DuBoFF, supra note 142, at 962-71
(1977).
of movable cultural property, which did not "constitute unique, rare

specimens of exceptional value for their aesthetic quality or for their
cultural qualities,"' 5 could be transferred.' However, in order to ex-
port this qualified cultural property it was necessary to gain permission
from the Secretariat of Public Education.'57 All other previously enact-
ed export controls for cultural property were maintained by the Law of
1970, and the register requirement of the Law of 1934 was retained.'
Additionally, the Law of 1970 recognized the provision of the 1934
law, which declared immovable archaeological monuments and objects
recovered from within them as the property of the state. 59
The most recent legislation, restricting the export from Mexico of
cultural property, is the Federal Law on Archaeological, Artistic and
Historic Monuments and Zones of 1972 (Law of 1972)."6° The Law of
1972 declares movable and immovable archaeological monuments with-
in Mexico to be the "inalienable and impresciptable property of the
nation, ' and places a complete ban on the export of cultural proper-
ty. However, the Law of 1972 provides exceptions to this export ban,
allowing archaeological monuments to be exported by the President for
cultural exchanges with foreign nations, gifts to foreign governments, or
the use of foreign scientific institutions.'62 In addition, the Law of
1972 maintains the registration system established by the Law of
1934, 63' and provides penalties for illegal excavations and the export
of cultural property.'" Unfortunately, the Law of 1972 promotes the
illicit trade in antiquities because of its complete ban on the export of
cultural property. The result of this export ban is the creation of an 6
economic incentive, due to scarcity, to traffic in Mexico's cultural property.'
Responding to the increase in Mexican cultural property entering
the United States, Mexico and the United States signed a bilateral treaty
to inhibit the international trade in Mexican Pre-Columbian antiquities.
The United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Cooperation Be-
tween the United States of America and the United Mexican States
155. Id. art. 53.

156. See id. art. 54.
157. See id. art. 54.
158. See id. art. 22.
159. See id. art. 2.
160. See FEDERAL LAW ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL, ARTISTIC AND HISTOIC MONUMENTS AND
ZoNs, 312 D.O. 16 (May 6, 1972) [hereinafter "Law of 1972"]. See also United States v.
McClain, 545 F.2d 988, 1000 (5th Cir. 1977).
161. Id. art. 27. The Law of 1972 is not retroactive; therefore, all rights legally acquired
under the previous laws are considered valid. See id. art. 4.
162. See id. art. 16.
163. See id.art. 21.
165. See Potter & Zagaris, supra note 144, at 670.
Providing for the Recovery and Return of Stolen Archaeological, His-

torical and Cultural Properties (U.S.-Mexico Treaty) on July 17,
1970. 66
The U.S.-Mexico Treaty provides that each country will use all
"legal means at its disposal to recover and return from its territory
stolen archaeological, historical and cultural properties that are removed
after the date of entry into force of the Treaty from the territory of the
requesting party."'6 7 The provisions of this treaty specifically protect
Pre-Columbian antiquities, official documents made prior to 1920, reli-
gious objects, and historical items that are declared to be "of outstand-
ing importance to the national patrimony."'" Furthermore, the U.S.-
Mexico Treaty enables the Attorney General of each nation to initiate
civil action in the appropriate courts to facilitate the return of cultural
property covered by the treaty.'
The greatest criticism of the U.S.-Mexico Treaty is that its focus is
on stolen cultural property and not on the prevention of the illicit trade
in antiquities."' Additionally, Mexico's Law of 1972, banning the ex-
port of most Pre-Columbian cultural property, has been criticized be-
cause it hinders the 1970 bilateral treaty's goal of a licit trade."' The
U.S.-Mexico Treaty also fails to provide a mechanism for defining
when an antiquity constitutes an object of outstanding cultural impor-
tance. Therefore, a licit Mexican antiquities market at this time is im-
possible and the international illicit trade in Mexican Pre-Columbian
antiquities continues.
D. The Protectionof CulturalProperty in the United States
The United States currently has a population of 248,709,873.72
Out of this demographic statistic whites, or people of caucasian ances-
try, account for 199,686,070" of the total population. Indigenous
groups in the United States,' followed by their population statistics,
166. See Treaty of Cooperation Between the United States of America and the United Mexi-
can States Providing for the Recovery and Return of Stolen Archaeological, Historical and
Cultural Properties, July 17, 1970, U.S.-Mexico, 22 U.S.T. 494, T.I.A.S. No. 7088 [hereinafter
"U.S.-Mexico Treaty"], brought into force March 24, 1971. Reprinted in SHARON A. WILLIAMS,
THE INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL PROTECTION OF MOVABLE PROPERTY: A COMPARATIVE
STUDY 287-89 (1978).
167. U.S.-Mexico Treaty, supra note 166, art. II.
168. Id.art. I.
169. See id. art. II.
170. See generally, Michael S. Blass, Legal Restrictions on American Access to Foreign
Cultural Property, 46 FORDHAM L. REV. 1177, 1195 (1978).
171. See id. at 1194.
172. See UNITED STATES 1990 CENSUS OF POPULATION: GENERAL POPULATION CHARAC-
TERISTICS, 3 (Issued November 1992) [hereinafter "Census"].
173. See id.
174. The indigenous population of the United States is made up of American Indian (Native
include: American Indians (Native Americans) 1,878,285;'17 Eskimos

(Inuits) 17 57,152; "6 Aleuts 23,797; 177 and Native Hawaiians
211,014.
Although the United States has a multitude of indigenous cultures,
they have been left unprotected and ignored until recently. This lack of
care for indigenous culture in the United States is largely a result of the
majority populations' identification with its European heritage. The
effect has been an inward flow of various European antiquities into the
United States, legitimized by weak import restrictions, advantageous tax
deductions for donations, and an outward flow of indigenous cultural
property.'" The failure of the United States to enact strong export re-
strictions on its indigenous and non-indigenous cultural property may be
due to a belief in open and free markets, or the perception that there is
no "American" cultural property worthy of protection.'
There was little care or awareness for the preservation of indige-
nous culture during the settlement of the United States. 8 2 Native
Americans were often viewed as a "barbarous race,"'' 3 who never.
American), Eskimo (Inuit), Aleut, and Native Hawaiian groups. These indigenous groups can
further be divided into a multitude of subgroups, but they are too numerous to be individually
mentioned within this article. Today there are more than six hundred Native American nations,
tribes, and bands. See SHARON O'BRIEN, AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENTs 77 (1989).
175. See Census, supra note 172, at 3. The European expansion throughout the modem
North American countries of Canada and the United States during the sixteenth, seventeenth,
eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries triggered a dramatic population collapse of indigenous
groups. The depopulation of North American indigenous populations was due to disease, war-
fare, population relocation, and the destruction of indigenous peoples' traditional way of life.
By 1850 the total United States Native American population had been reduced to 250,000 from
over five million within three centuries. See O'BREN, supra note 174, at 77. See generally,
Jared Diamond, The Arrow of Disease, DIscovER, October 1992, at 64 (concerning the depop-
ulation of the New World's indigenous population). See also ANN RAMENOFSKY, VECTORS OF
DEATH: THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF EUROPEAN CONTACT (1987).
176. See Census, supra note 172, at 3.
177. See id.
178. See id.
179. See Patty Gerstenblith, Identity and Cultural Property: The Protectionof CulturalProp-
erty in the United States, 73 B.U. L. REv. 559, 562-563 (1995).
180. See id. at 563.
181. See id. The failure of the United States to provide legal protection for its indigenous
population's cultural property may be due to the view held by the majority of Americans that
indigenous culture does not represent their European heritage. See also Harrington, supra note
22, at 30.
182. See PROTr & O'KEEFE, supra note 6, at 62-3.
183. See id. at 63. Some initially perceived Native Americans to be the typical specimens of
Rousseau's "noble savage" or "primitive man," who were equal to one another because of their
independence. See generally, JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU, A DISCOURSE ON INEQUALITY,
(Maurice Cranston trans. 1987). However, the majority of Europeans, and their American dece-
dents, viewed Native Americans to be heathens, which justified the British wars of expansion
could have constructed the burial mounds or developed the antiquities

discovered by the European colonists and pioneers in the Eastern Unit-
ed States. 4 Rather, the common belief was that the continent had
been occupied prior to the Native Americans by a more advanced peo-
ple or refugees from an Old World civilization. 8 Euro-Americans
used this ideology to legitimize their collecting of Native American
relics, destruction 1of indigenous archaeological sites, and settlement of
the "New World. 6
Despite an early action to protect Native American culture through
the setting aside of two Native American earthen pyramids and a large
mound by the Ohio Land Company in Marietta, Ohio, in 1788,8 7 the
first attempt to widely preserve historic ruins did not occur until Con-
gress passed the Antiquities Act of 1906." This Act was a response
to the destruction and looting of Native American Pueblo remains in the
Southwestern United States.8 9 In addition to creating the first Native
American national monument at Mesa Verde,"g the Antiquities Act of
1906 grants the President the power to set aside historic landmarks and
structures as national monuments. 9 ' Furthermore, the Act provides
that any individual who excavates, appropriates, injures, or causes the
destruction of any historic or prehistoric ruin or antiquity on land
owned or under the control of the federal government, without permis-
sion from the federal department holding jurisdiction over the land,
shall be fined and may be imprisoned."
and the latter American settlement of the United States. See generally, ROBERT A. WILLIAMS,
JR., THE AMERICAN INDIAN IN WESTERN LEGAL THOUGHT (1990).
184. See A. Irving Hallowell, The Beginnings of Anthropology in America, in Contributions
to Anthropology: Selected Papersof A. Irving Hallowell 36, 114 (1976).
185. See id. The burial mounds and prehistoric earthworks of the eastern United States were
also attributed to the lost tribes of Israel or the Phoenicians. The early settlers of the United
States denied any connection between these archaeological sites and the Native Americans. See
also Deborah L. Nichols et al., Ancestral Sites, Shrines, and Graves: Native American Perspec-
tives on the Ethics of Collecting Cultural Properties 27-28, in THE ETHICS OF COLLECTING
CULTURAL PROPERTY: WHOSE CULTURE? WHOSE PROPERTY? (Phyllis Mauch Messenger ed.,
1989).
186. See Don D. Fowler, Conserving American ArchaeologicalResources 137, in AMERICAN
ARCHAEOLOGY, PAST AND FUTURE (David J. Meltzer, Don D. Fowler, and Jeremy Sabloff eds.,
1986).
187. See Hallowell, supra note 184, at 111-112.
188. See Ch. 3060, § 2, 34 Stat. 225 (1906) (codified as amended at 16 U.S.C. §§ 431-33m
(1988)). The Antiquities Act of 1906 was originally proposed in 1900. However, the act took
six years to pass due to political debate. See also H. MARCUS PRICE EI, DISPUTING THE DEAD:
U.S. LAW ON ABORIGINAL REMAINS AND GRAVE GOODS 25 (1991).
189. See PROT & O'KEEFE, supra note 6, at 63.
190. See Gerstenblith, supra note 179, at 579.
191. See 16 U.S.C. §431 (1988).
192. See id. § 433. Permits to conduct excavations on federal land are granted by the Secre-
350 TULSA J. COMP. & INT'L L. [Vol. 4:327
The Antiquities Act of 1906 failed to provide adequate protection

of indigenous cultural property because the Act was too vague, 93 the
provisions were not enforced,14 and the Act lacked any provisions
regarding the consideration of indigenous interests in recovered cultural
property.""
Further attempts at preserving historical sites in the United States
during the early twentieth century focused on protecting structures
associated with the European colonization.' 9 The Historic Sites,
Buildings and Antiquities Act of 1935'" authorized the Secretary of
the Interior to restore, reconstruct, and maintain sites of historic inter-
est.'98 Additionally, the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to
establish museums and enter into contracts for the protection, preserva-
tion, or operation of historic buildings, archaeological sites, and archae-
ological objects.'" Despite having "little relevance to the problem of
disposition of prehistoric aboriginal remains and grave goods, it indi-
cates the continuing national concern for preservation of antiqui-
ties."' The Historic Sites, Buildings, and Antiquities Act of 1935
failed to recognize indigenous peoples' interests in cultural property.
In an attempt to protect historical and archaeological data from loss
resulting from the construction of dams and other federal construction
projects, the Reservoir Act"' was passed in 1960. This Act allows the
Secretary of the Interior to conduct archaeological surveys of areas to
be altered due to the construction of dams.' Sites to be preserved,
however, must be of "exceptional significance," which is a vague crite-
ria. 3 In 1966, Congress enacted the National Historic Preservation
Act (NIPA),' which provides for the maintenance of a national reg-
taries of the Interior, Agriculture, and Army. See also id.§ 432.
193. In United States v. Diaz, a person was convicted by a federal district court under the
Antiquities Act for the removal of antiquities from federal land. Upon appeal, this decision was
reversed. The appellate court found the Act's definitions for "ruin," "object of antiquity," and
"monument" to be too vague. See United States v. Diaz, 499 F.2d 113,114 (9th Cir. 1974).
195. See PRICE, supra note 188, at 25.
197. See Historic Sites, Buildings and Antiquities Act of 1935, Ch. 593, 49 Stat. 666 (1935)
(codified as amended at 16 U.S.C. s 1 (1988)).
198. See 16 U.S.C. § 462(f) (1988).
199. See id. § 462(e).
200. PRICE, supra note 188, at 26.
201. See Reservoir Act, Pub. L. No. 86-523, § 1, 74 Stat. 220 (1960) (codified at 16 U.S.C.
§§ 469 to 469c-1 (1988)).
202. See id.
204. See National Historic Preservation Act, Pub. L. No. 89-665i § 1, 80 Stat. 915 (1966)
(codified as amended at 16 U.S.C. §§ 470a to 470w-6 (1988 & Supp. Ell1991)).
19971 INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS' CULTURAL PROPERTY 351
ister of districts, sites, buildings, and objects of significant American

history, architecture, archaeology, and culture. 5 The NHPA was an
expansion of the register mandated under the Historic Sites Act of 1935
requiring federal agencies to "establish a program to locate, inventory,
and nominate to the secretary all properties under the agency's own-
ership or control," that qualify for registration on the National Register
of Historic Places.' Additionally, the NHPA provides for the Secre-
tary of the Interior to coordinate the participation of the United States
in the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and
Natural Heritage, acting in cooperation with the Secretary of State, the
Smithsonian Institution, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preser-
vation.2 7
The NHPA is designed for the protection of historic and cultural
property from destruction.= However, it fails to provide a mechanism
for the repatriation of indigenous peoples' claims to human remains and
cultural property.' For indigenous groups to have structures or ar-
chaeological sites protected, it would be necessary to press for their
inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, which has a strin-
gent criteria for inclusion."'
Following the implementation of the NHPA, the National Environ-
mental Act of 1969 (NEPA)21' requires that environmental and cul-
tural values be taken into consideration alongside technological and
economic issues when federal projects are proposed."' Furthermore,
the NEPA provides that the federal government will employ all prac-
tical means to improve and manage federal plans, functions, programs,
and resources in order to "preserve important historic, cultural, and
natural aspects of the national heritage." ' Under the NEPA, should a
proposed federal project significantly impact "the quality of the human
environment" an environmental impact statement (EIS) must be pre-
pared by the appropriate federal agency." 4
205. See 16 U.S.C. §§ 470a-70d (1988). The National Preservation Act of 1966 was
amended in 1980 in order to provide guidance for the national historic preservation program at
the federal, state, and local levels.
206. 16 U.S.C. §§ 470h-2(a)(2) (1988).
207. See 16 U.S.C. §§ 470a-l(a) (1988). The nomination of sites that are of international
significance to the World Heritage Committee on behalf of the United States is also to be con-
ducted by the Secretary of the Interior. See also id. § 470a-l(b).
209. See id.
210. See id.
211. See National Environmental Act of 1969, Pub. L. No. 91-190, § 2, 83 Stat 852 (1970)
(codified at 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321-70a (1988 & Supp. 1111991)).
212. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 4331-32 (1988 & Supp. m1 1991).
213. Id. at § 4331(b)(4).
214. Id. at § 4332(C).
The focus of the NEPA is on the preservation of historical struc-

tures and antiquities, not on the repatriation of lost or stolen cultural
property to indigenous populations." 5 However, the concerns of indig-
enous groups and all other citizens can be voiced at2 16the required public
hearings on the EIS of the proposed federal project.
The American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 (AIRFA)21 7
specifically considers Native American cultural values and religious ex-
pression. Native Americans have cited AIRFA as the controlling au-
thority for their right to retain possession of their cultural property." 8
Additionally, Native American groups have claimed AIRFA authorizes
the repatriation of their religious objects from museum collections." 9
However, AIRFA does not have any provisions maintaining that muse-
ums must return religious objects originally belonging to Native Ameri-
can communities. Rather, AIRFA only applies to federal agencies'
and Courts have held that the Act is only a statement of the federal
government's policy of recognizing Native American religious be-
liefs."
Under AIRFA, the federal government will protect Native
Americans' right of freedom to practice their traditional religions.'m
Additionally, federal agencies and departments must consider the effect
of governmental projects on Native Americans' religious beliefs, ob-
jects, and practices. m While AIRFA does not require government
agencies to protect Native Americans' cultural property, it creates a
forum where Native American values and views can be expressed con-
cerning federal projects.22 4
The effective replacement of the Antiquities Act of 1903 is the
Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (ARPA). 25the

216. See id.
217. See American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, Pub. L. No. 95-341, § 1, 92 Stat.
469 (1978) (codified at 42 U.S.C. § 1996 (1988)). See generally, Alfonso Ortiz, American Indi-
an Religious Freedom: First People and the FirstAmendment, CULTURAL SURVIVAL Q. Winter
1996, at 26.
218. See Blair Bowmen, Indian Rights: Native Americans Versus American Museums-A
Battle For Artifacts, 7 Am. INDIAN L. REV. 125 (1979). See also PRICE, supra note 188, at 29.
219. See Bowmen, supra note 218, at 125.
220. See Pub. L. No. 95-341, 1978 U.S.C.C.A.N. (95 Stat.) 1262, 1265-165.
221. See Wilson v. Block, 708 F. 2d 735 (D.C. Cir.), cert denied, 464 U.S. 956 (1983). See
also Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Ass'n, 485 U.S. 439 (1988).
222. See 42 U.S.C. § 1996 (1988).
223. See American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, Pub. L. No. 95-341, 1978
U.S.C.C.A.N. (95 Stat.) 1262, 1265.
225. Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, Pub. L. No. 96-95, 93 Stat. 721
(1979) (codified as amended at 16 U.S.C. §§ 470aa-70mm (1988)). It is not clear whether the
ARPA was passed in order to provide protection for archaeological

7 Under
resources226 and sites located on public and Indian lands.
the ARPA the sale, purchase, transport, exchange, or receipt of archaeo-
logical resources removed without proper permission from public or
Indian lands is prohibited.2' The ARPA provides Native American
groups with some protection for their cultural property through the
requirement of a permit from the Native American community to exca-
vate on their land.' A criticism of the ARPA is that it prevents repa-
triation of Native American remains and cultural property because it
requires any recovered objects to be preserved by a suitable institu-
tion.' Once again, the ARPA is a measure which fails to promote
the repatriation of indigenous populations' cultural property.
The application of the ARPA to private property, when archaeo-
logical resources are removed without the permission of the owner, was
upheld by the Supreme Court's decision to deny certiorari on January
18, 1994 in a case determining an important provision of the
ARPA."' In United States v. Gerber, the United States Court of Ap-
peals for the Seventh Circuit unanimously held that the ARPA was not
limited to archaeological objects removed from federal and Indian
lands.u 2 The holding in United States v. Austin, 3 which upheld the
ARPA repealed the Antiquities Act of 1906. See Thomas Boyd, Disputes Regarding the Pos-
session of Native American Religious and Cultural Objects and Human Remains: A Discussion
of the Applicable Law and Proposed Legislation, 55 Mo. L. REV. 883, 897 (1990).
The ARPA's purpose "is to secure for the present and future benefit of the American
people, the protection of archaeological resources and sites located on public and Indian lands."
16 U.S.C. § 470aa(b) (1988).
226. The term "archaeological resource" is defined as any material remains of past human
life or activities of archaeological interest which are at least one hundred years old. See 16
U.S.C. § 470bb(l) (1988). Therefore, the ARPA is more specific than the Antiquities Act of
1906, which fails to define ambiguous terms such as "ruin" or "object of antiquity."
227. See 16 U.S.C. § 470aa(b) (1988).
228. See id. at §470ee (1988).
229. See id. at § 470cc(c), (g) (1988).
230. See Margaret B. Bowman, The Reburial of Native American Skeletal Remains: Ap-
proaches to the Resolution of a Conflict, 13 HARv. ENVrL. L. Rev. 147, 188-189 (1989).
231. See Gerber v. United States, 510 U.S. 1071 (1994).
232. See United States v. Gerber, 999 F.2d 1112, 1116 (7th Cir. 1993). Gerber pleaded
guilty to misdemeanor violations of the ARPA, 16 U.S.C. §§ 470aa et seq., and was sentenced
to twelve months in prison. However, Gerber reserved the right to appeal on the ground that the
ARPA did not apply to his offense. Gerber had entered upon land owned by the General Elec-
tric Company, without permission, and excavated a prehistoric Native American antiquities
from an earthen burial mound associated with "Hopewell phenomenon" culture. See also id. at
1113-14. Gerber was convicted under the section of the ARPA which provides that:
no person may sell, purchase, exchange, transport, receive, or offer to sell,
purchase, or exchange, in interstate or foreign commerce, any archaeological
resource excavated, removed, sold, purchased, exchanged, transported, or
received in violation of any provision, rule, regulation, ordinance, or permit in
constitutionality of the ARPA, together with Gerber provides the legal

basis for the prosecution of ARPA violations on privately owned land.
The most current and strongest federal legislation to recognize the
interests of contemporary indigenous populations in cultural property is
the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990
(NAGPRA)." 4 Under the NAGPRA, federal agencies and all muse-
ums that have possession of indigenous human remains and associated
grave goods are required to compile an inventory"5 of their holdings
and, if possible, identify the geographical region and cultural affiliation
of these itemsY' Furthermore, these inventories are to be completed
in consultation with Native Hawaiian leaders, Native American tribal
governments, and traditional religious leaders within five years of the
NAGPRA's enactment. 7 Any human remains and associated grave
goods must be returned expeditiously if a request is made by a lineal
descendant, Native American tribe, or Native Hawaiian organiza-
tion."8 When the inventory fails to establish a cultural affiliation, a
Native American or Native Hawaiian group can take possession through
proving by a preponderance of the evidence that it has a cultural affilia-
tion with the human remains and cultural property. 9 Museums which
fail to comply with the NAGPRA documentation provisions are subject
to civil penalties.' Finally, the NAGPRA extends the protection of
human remains beyond trafficking in these items obtained in violation
of the statute to all skeletal remains excavated prior to the enactment of
the NAGPRA.24'
effect under State or local Law.

See also 16 U.S.C. § 479ee(c).
Gerber argued that the ARPA did not apply to archaeological artifacts removed from land not
owned by the federal government or Indian Tribes, despite the Act's reference to the contrary.
See Gerber, 999 F.2d at 1113. The Court concluded that section 470ee(c) of the ARPA is not
limited to archaeological objects removed from federal and Indian lands. See also id. at 1116.
233. See United States v. Austin, 902 F.2d 743 (9th Cir. 1989). In Austin, the Court held
that the ARPA was not unconstitutionally overbroad or vague. See also id. at 744-45.
234. See Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-
601, § 2, 104 Stat. 3048 (1990) (codified at 25 U.S.C. §§ 3001-13 (Supp. M 1991)).
235. The compilation of these inventories has proven to be burdensome, laborious, and ex-
pensive for federal agencies and museums. Furthermore, the feasibility of this project has been
called into question. See Boyd, supra note 225, at 928.
236. See 25 U.S.C. § 3003(a) (Supp. ll 1991).
237. See id. at § 3003(b).
238. See 25 U.S.C. § 3005(a)(1) (Supp. V 1993).
239. See id. § 3005(a)(4) (Supp. V 1993). Cultural affiliation can be established based upon
"geographical kinship, biological, archaeological, linguistic, folkloric, oral traditional, historical,
or other relevant information or expert opinion." Id.
240. See 25 U.S.C. § 3007.
241. See id. at § 3001(13) (Supp. V 1993). The ARPA still regulates excavations, but the
NAGPRA requires that the appropriate Native American or Native Hawaiian group be consulted
The enactment of the NAGPRA provides the United States' indige-

nous populations with the means to control their affiliated human re-
mains and cultural property. While most archaeologist agree with the
Native American and Native Hawaiian groups that historical human
remains should be returned for reburial, there is disagreement about the
repatriation of ancient skeletal remains which are not clearly affiliated
with any modem indigenous group. 2 For example, the Umatilla tribe
of northeastern Oregon, has recently demanded the return of a prehis-
toric 9,300 year-old skeleton discovered on land administered by the
Army Corps of Engineers along the Columbia River in Kennewick,
Washington.243 Many archaeologists believe that the skeleton, one of
the oldest discovered in North America, is not affiliated with the
Umatillas or any modem Native American group.2" In order to main-
tain access to the remains for further study, which could provide infor-
mation on the origins of Native Americans, archaeologists are seeking
an injunction in federal court to halt the return of the skeleton to the
Umatillas for reburial.245 Sebastian LeBeau, repatriation officer for the
Cheyenne River Sioux of the Lakota tribe, defends the repatriation of
indigenous human remains stating "we never asked science to make a
determination as to our origins."'2
In addition to the federal laws protecting the cultural property of
the United States, numerous state programs and laws have been imple-
mented to encourage the protection of human remains and associated
grave goods.247 Although each states' statutes vary in the degree of
protection, they primarily criminalize the possession and transfer of
human remains.2
In order to halt the flow of Pre-Columbian cultural property from
entering the United States, the Pre-Columbian Art Act249 was imple-
mented in 1972. This Act provides that no Pre-Columbian monumental
or architectural sculpture or mural could be imported into the United
prior to the removal of any human remains or associated objects. See also id.at § 3002(c)
(Supp. V 1993).
242. See George Johnson, Indian Tribes' Creationists Thwart Archaeologists, N.Y. TIMES,
Oct. 22, 1996, at Al, B6.
243. See id.at B6.
244. See id.
245. See id.
246. Id.
247. See Gerstenblith, supra note 179, at 631 and note 310 for list of state statutes protecting
human remains and cultural property.
248. See id.
249. See Pre-Columbian Art Act, Pub. L. No. 92-587, § 201, 86 Stat. 1297 (1972) (codified
at 19 U.S.C. §§ 2091-95 (1988)). The Pre-Columbian Art Act was implemented due to the
destruction of Pre-Columbian monuments in the 1960s. See also Hingston, supra note 78, at
131.
States without an issued certificate from the country of origin stating

that the exported antiquity was not removed in violation of its laws.' 0
Monumental or architectural sculpture includes any immobile structure
or part of a structure which is subject to export control of the country
of origin."' The Pre-Columbian Art Act applies to monumental or
architectural sculpture from Mexico, Central America, South America,
and the Caribbean Islands.f 2
Unfortunately, the Pre-Columbian Art Act has not been a success-
ful deterrent to the looting of Pre-Columbian archaeological sites. Rath-
er, this statute has encouraged looters to break into Pre-Columbian
tombs in search of smaller antiquities not protected by this Act. 3
Due to the failure of the Pre-Columbian Art Act to halt the flow of Pre-
Columbian artifacts into the United States, and because the Act only
provides for the forfeiture of antiquities found to be in violation, some
courts have recognized that additional methods of deterrence are need-
ed. 4 The National Stolen Property Act, 5 in addition to the civil
requirements of the Pre-Columbian Art Act, provides criminal penalties
for trafficking in stolen cultural property.' The National Stolen Prop-
erty Act provides that it is a felony to knowingly sell or receive stolen
goods worth five thousand dollars or more in interstate or foreign com-
merce. 2 7 However, the successful use of the National Stolen Property
Act has been called into question with the court's holding in Peru v.
Johnson.s
IV. THE DEBATE CONCERNING A REGULATED TRADE IN CULTURAL
PROPERTY
When examining the debate concerning a regulated trade in cultural
property it is easy to slip into moral arguments concerning the cultural,
scientific, and historic value of antiquities. To begin assessing the mer-
its of proposed regulatory models for a licit trade in antiquities, it is
necessary to set aside moral arguments and examine the few standard-
ized principles in the debate concerning a legal trade in cultural proper-
ty.2 9 The varying range of attitudes toward cultural property has been
250. See 19 U.S.C. § 2092(a) (1988).

251. See id. at § 2093.
252. See id. at § 2095(3).
253. See CONKLIN, supra note 4, at 252-53.
254. See generally, United States v. McClain, 593 F.2d 658 (5th Cir. 1979).
255. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 2314, 2315 (1988 & Supp.ll 1990).
256. See id. at §§ 2314, 2315 (1988 & Supp. V 1993).
257. See id. at § 2315
258. See supra Part II.B, Peru v. Johnson, and accompanying note 132.
259. See generally Karen J. Warren, A PhilosophicalPerspective on the Ethics and Resolu-
tion of Cultural Property Issues 1-25, in THE ETHICS OF COLLECTING CULTURAL PROPERTY:
classified by John Henry Merryman into two distinct groups, those

holding to the belief of "cultural internationalism" (internationalists)
2
and those holding the view of "cultural nationalism" (nationalists). "
Internationalists hold the view that the international movement of
antiquities serves a legitimate purpose because the spread of cultural
property promotes the education of our "common cultural heritage."'
Additionally, internationalists believe that the current destructive de-
mand for cultural property would be "partially satisfied" by a free trade
in antiquities.2 2 The nationalists, however, make the argument that
cultural property belongs to the people, or their descendants, who gen-
erated them. 3 Some nationalists hold the opinion that all cultural prop-
erty outside its country of origin should be repatriated.'
Often, collectors and dealers hold the internationalists view that
5
collecting and selling cultural property serves a legitimate purpose.
Collectors and dealers believe that their activities actually protect antiq-
uities' and promote cultural understanding.' While collectors and
dealers would like to see a licit trade in cultural property, they disagree
over which antiquities should enter the market and who should be al-
lowed to participate." Archaeologists, however, see the collectors and
dealers as the true looters. 9 Professor Colin Renfrew, a prominent ar-
chaeologist, referred to their activities saying, "we must show them the
monstrosity of what they are doing.' '2 T Antiquities are viewed by ar-
chaeologists as cultural byproducts which provide insight, through the
WHOSE CULTURE? WHOSE PROPERTY? (Phyllis Mauch Messenger ed., 1989).

260. See John H. Merryman, Two Ways of Thinking About Cultural Property, 80 AM. J.
INT'L L. 831, 846 (1986).
261. See id. at 846-47.
262. See id. at 847.
263. See John H. Merryman, Thinking About the Elgin Marbles, 83 MICH. L. REV. 1881,
1903-04 (1985).
264. See generally Warren, supra note 259, at 7-10.
265. See generally id. at 3-8; Gillett G. Griffin, Collecting Pre-Columbian Art 103-15, in
THE ETHICS OF COLLECTING CULTURAL PROPERTY: WHOSE CULTURE? WHOSE PROPERTY?
(Phyllis Mauch Messenger ed., 1989).
266. See Griffin, supra note 265, at 108-10. See also Warren, supra note 259, at 3-4. See
also Charles S. Koczka, The Need for Enforcing Regulations on the InternationalArt Trade, in
THE ETHICS OF COLLECTING CULTURAL PROPERTY: WHOSE CULTURE? WHOSE PROPERTY? 191
(Phyllis Mauch Messenger ed., 1989).
267. See John H. Merryman and Albert E. Elsen, The Importance of a Licit Market, in 1
LAw, ETHICS, AND THE VISUAL ARTS 62, 62-4 (John H. Merryman and Albert E. Elsen eds.,
1987). See generally, Griffin, supra note 265, at 103-15. See also Warren, supra note 259, at 7.
268. See Eisenberg, supra note 90, at 40.
269. See Ricardo J. Elia, Book: A Seductive and Troubling Work, ARCHAEOLOGY, Jan.Feb.
1993, at 64,69. See also Halloway, supra note 17, at 101.
270. Eisenberg, supra note 90, at 38. See Renfrew, supra note 28, at 16-17.
use of scientific techniques, into the behavior of past cultures."' Adher-

ing to this view, some scholars have called for the prohibition of any
private trade in cultural property.'
While the idea of prohibiting a private trade in cultural property
has its merits, where all peoples have a right to the cultural properties
which make up their cultural heritage, there are no legal means avail-
able to halt the demand for antiquities. Accepting the fact that archaeo-
logical sites are being destroyed and cultural property looted at a stag-
gering rate," that current international efforts have failed to stem the
international illicit trade in antiquities,27 4 and that domestic legislation
has failed to halt the demand for artifacts, 75 a proposal for a regu-
lated licit trade in cultural property becomes palatable.
V. PROPOSAL FOR A REGULATED TRADE IN CULTURAL PROPERTY

For any proposal to be successful it should be equitable, providing
indigenous populations with the means to protect designated cultural
property and reduce the demand for illicit antiquities. A partial solution
to the current destructive effects of the illicit trade in antiquities is the
creation of a national and international regulated trade in cultural prop-
erty; where indigenous groups maintain control of their individual cul-
tural property; where indigenous groups designate protected cultural
property that may not enter the antiquities trade; where governments
must provide protection to cultural property designated not to enter the
antiquities trade; and where indigenous groups can enforce claims to
their protected cultural property before international tribunals.
In order to reduce the demand for illicit antiquities, a proposal
should account for the monetary incentive illegal antiquities trafficking
provides." Initially, governments should establish annual antiquities
sales where high quality, authentic, well documented, collectable, and
exportable cultural property is made available. All antiquities placed on
sale should be photographed and full descriptions of the objects record-
271. See discussion supra Part 1l.C., and accompanying note 43.
272. See generally Note, John Moustakas, Group Rights in Cultural Property: Justifying
Strict Inalienability,74 CORNELL L. REv. 1179 (1989), at 1202-21 (discussion of inalienability
for group rights in property). See also Herscher, supra note 84, at 117.
273. See discussion infra Part ll.B., and accompanying note 17.
274. See discussion supra Part II.A.
275. See discussion supra Part IlI.B-D. Although the United States' current domestic legis-
lation offers protection to cultural property, and a means for indigenous populations to have
their stolen heritage repatriated, there is not enough money to police all of the known and un-
known archaeological sites. See generally, Holloway, supra note 17, at 98.
276. See discussion supra U.B. "If the market cannot be supplied through legal means, it
will be supplied illegally." Merryman and Elsen, supra note 267, at 63, (Referring to the de-
mand for cultural property).
ed. This record would be open for study, and it would allow a nation to
monitor the cultural property that leaves its borders. It is hoped that
collectors and dealers would be willing to purchase documented cultural
property from the country of origin instead of smugglers, who cannot
guarantee authenticity. 2" Governments should also pay higher rewards
to individuals who find cultural property than could be received from
smugglers. Additionally, if an antiquity includes precious metals, the
finder should receive more than the object's value melted down. This
will reduce the risk of individuals destroying an object for economic
gain. Funds for these purchases would hopefully be covered by the
governments' antiquities sales, or the finders could take a share of the
sale. It is possible that smugglers will simply pay a higher price than a
government, however, any object not sold on the licit market could be
construed as a fake.
Each government entering this licit antiquities trade should create
an agency in charge of regulating excavations, discoveries, and the sale
of antiquities. This agency would be responsible for managing the
government's antiquities sale, providing the documents necessary for
authenticity, and paying finders for their discoveries. Additionally, this
agency would manage the funds generated by the sale of the cultural
property. Source nations, often developing countries, would especially
benefit. A licit trade in cultural property could fund preservation and
education programs aimed at protecting antiquities barred from the
market. 8
It is important for countries to offer high quality antiquities at its
sales in order to entice collectors and dealers away from the smugglers.
However, it is important for a country to provide its indigenous popu-
lation with the means to retain control of cultural property affiliated
with its heritage. For any proposal of a licit antiquities market to be
fair, it must provide for the rights of indigenous people to control their
cultural property. Indigenous groups, working with the governmental
agency overseeing the licit antiquities sale, could designate cultural
property that would not enter the market. The government should enact
laws to protect these designated artifacts, and use funds generated by
the licit antiquities trade to police important archaeological sites. Cul-
tural property affiliated to an indigenous group that is not designated to
be protected should benefit that community economically.
Finally, indigenous populations should be included in the process
of enforcing their cultural property rights before international tribunals.
Currently, indigenous and ethnic groups without state status are gener-
277. Collectors, dealers, and museums do not wish to add fake antiquities to their holdings.
See discussion supra Part H.B.
278. See Merryman and Elsen, supra note 267, at 63.
ally not allowed to enter into United Nations deliberations or enforce

their rights under international treaties.279
VI.CONCLUSION
It is hoped that this proposal will generate continued debate con-
cerning a licit trade in cultural property, raising new questions and
ideas about the protection of our heritage. Many individuals, particular-
ly archaeologists and cultural anthropologists, will criticize this
comment's proposal. However, laws and international treaties do not
reduce the demand for cultural property; therefore, the destruction of
archaeological sites will continue unless a controlled trade in antiquities
can be established.
A regulated trade in antiquities, which allows indigenous groups
control over affiliated cultural property, would benefit purchaser na-
tions, source nations, scholars, and indigenous populations. Purchaser
nations would have access to legally exportable antiquities and reduce
the risk of an international incident. Source nations would be able to
retain, preserve, and protect their cultural property. Scholars would
benefit from the greater preservation of archaeological sites. Finally,
indigenous populations would gain a more effective means to preserve
their cultural property.
Jason C. Roberts
279. See Russel L. Barsh, Indigenous Peoples in the 1990s: From Object to Subject of Inter-
national Law?, 7 HARV. HUM. RTS. J. 33 (1994)

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Tulsa Journal of Comparative and International Law

Volume 4 | Issue 2 Article 7

Protection of Indigenous Populations' Cultural

Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.utulsa.edu/tjcil

Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.utulsa.edu/tjcil/vol4/iss2/7

antiquities or a national and international regulated trade will provide

II. THE RELATIONSHIP OF INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS TO CULTURAL

A. Cultural Property and Indigenous Populations

"[A] precise and binding definition of cultural property seems to be an understandable

B. The Illicit Trade in Antiquities and the Demand for Cultural

behind drug smuggling and perhaps weapons trading,"'" in terms of in-

18. Ella, supra note 16, at 96.

for cultural property.24 Museums expand their collections through pur-

36. CONKLIN, supra note 4, at 195.

careful techniques.45 Rather, objects of scientific value are damaged or

III. INTERNATIONAL ATTEMPTS AND PROTECTIVE MEASURES IN PERU,

A. InternationalLaw Protecting CulturalProperty

51. See PRoTr & O'KEE, supra note 6, at 453.

Convention established principles for the control of the international

consent to ratification of the UNESCO Convention in 1972, with seven

WHOSE PROPERTY? 134-137 (Phyllis Mauch Messenger ed., 1989).

bution to the knowledge of the origins, development, or history of that

declare national ownership of certain types of cultural property, includ-

98. See id.

discoveries; however, duplicates, photographs, and detailed information

109. See id.

certain types of cultural property have proven to be ineffective in halt-

119. See Herscher, supra note 84, at 118.

Based on the Executive Agreement between the United States and

The overwhelming majority of Peru's archaeological sites represent

C. Mexican Legislation ProtectingCultural Property

Mexico's enactment of The Law for the Protection and Preserva-

of movable cultural property, which did not "constitute unique, rare

155. Id. art. 53.

Providing for the Recovery and Return of Stolen Archaeological, His-

include: American Indians (Native Americans) 1,878,285;'17 Eskimos

could have constructed the burial mounds or developed the antiquities

The Antiquities Act of 1906 failed to provide adequate protection

ister of districts, sites, buildings, and objects of significant American

The focus of the NEPA is on the preservation of historical struc-

215. See PRICE, supra note 188, at 28.

ARPA was passed in order to provide protection for archaeological

constitutionality of the ARPA, together with Gerber provides the legal

effect under State or local Law.

The enactment of the NAGPRA provides the United States' indige-

States without an issued certificate from the country of origin stating

250. See 19 U.S.C. § 2092(a) (1988).

classified by John Henry Merryman into two distinct groups, those

WHOSE CULTURE? WHOSE PROPERTY? (Phyllis Mauch Messenger ed., 1989).

use of scientific techniques, into the behavior of past cultures."' Adher-

V. PROPOSAL FOR A REGULATED TRADE IN CULTURAL PROPERTY

ally not allowed to enter into United Nations deliberations or enforce

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