Bolivia
U.S. Protection of Archaeological and
Ethnological Materials
I. U.S. and Bolivian
Actions
II. Summary of the Basis for These Actions
III. Categories
of Artifacts Subject to Import Restriction
IV. Import Regulations
V. For More Information
I.
U.S. and Bolivian Actions
On March 14, 1989, the U.S. placed emergency import restrictions on antique
Aymara textiles from Coroma. On May 5, 1993, the emergency import restriction
was extended for an additional three years. The emergency restriction
has expired, but other U.S. laws would be applicable in their recovery
should there be future unauthorized movement of these textiles into the
United States.
On December 4, 2001, the U.S. and Bolivia signed a bilateral agreement (or Memorandum of Understanding
[MOU]), which imposed import restrictions on pre-Columbian archaeological artifacts
and Colonial and Republican ethnological materials.
On December 4, 2006, the MOU with Bolivia was extended for an additional
five-year term.
II.
Summary of the Basis for These Actions
U.S. actions were in response to requests from the Government of Bolivia
under Article 9 of the 1970 UNESCO Convention.
With respect to the 1989 emergency action to protect certain antique
Aymara textiles from Bolivia, it was found that the United States was
a major market for these objects. Handed down from generation to generation,
some dating from the 15th century, these textiles are held communally
and play a prominent role in the social, political, economic, and religious
life in the Andean village of Coroma. Over the course of the 1980s, U.S.
dealers traveled to Coroma and, through middlemen, acquired and exported
nearly half of its ceremonial textile assemblage, in violation of Bolivian
export and ownership laws. The Bolivian middlemen were prosecuted, and
the community elders took strong steps against local citizens involved
in the theft and illicit transport of these materials. Coroma's elders
issued pleas to U.S. collectors and museums not to acquire their ancestral
textiles and to return those already acquired. Two major repatriations
occurred.
With respect to the 2001 agreement, it was found that the pre-Columbian
people of Bolivia achieved a high degree of technological, agricultural,
and artistic achievement, but the culture as a whole remains poorly understood.
Further, it was found that the archaeological evidence necessary for scientists
to reveal the early history of Bolivian culture is in jeopardy from pillage.
The pillage is widespread, on-going, and destroying the archaeological
record of Bolivia.
Ethnological materials from the Colonial and Republican periods were
also found to be subject to pillage. These objects play an essential and
irreplaceable role in indigenous Bolivian communities; they are vested
with symbolic and historic meaning, and have an important place in ceremonial
practices. These objects testify to the continuity of pre-Columbian cultural
elements in modern life, and evince pride among members of a society that
is largely indigenous.
The import restrictions are intended to mitigate the results of extensive
looting to meet the demands of the U.S. and international trade in artifacts.
In addition to providing protection through import restrictions, the
bilateral agreement also advances the agenda of the 1994 Summit of the
Americas, where governments in the Western Hemisphere pledged to enhance
appreciation of indigenous cultures and cultural artifacts through various
collaborative means, including the implementation of cultural property
protection agreements.
III.
Categories of Artifacts Subject to Import Restriction
A. 1989 Emergency Action (expired on May 5, 1996)
Restricted materials date from before 1500 to about 1850 A.D. Categories
include tunics, ponchos, mantles, head-coverings, and shawls woven from
camelid fiber and sheep wool.
The object types protected by this action appear in the official Designated
List published in the Federal Register notice of March 14, 1989.
B. 2001 Agreement
The Designated List describing object types covered by the import restrictions
was published in the Federal Register on December 7, 2001.
The restricted archaeological materials range in date from approximately
10,000 B.C. to A.D. 1532, and include objects of ceramic, textile, featherwork,
metals, stone, shell, bone, wood and basketry; as well as human remains.
The restricted ethnological materials range in date from A.D. 1533 to
1900 (Colonial and Republican Periods), and include objects of indigenous
manufacture and ritual use related to the pre-Columbian past, and may
include masks, wood, musical instruments, textiles, featherwork, ceramics;
and objects used for rituals and religious ceremonies, including Colonial
religious art, such as paintings and sculpture, reliquaries, altars, altar
objects, and liturgical vestments.
IV. Import Regulations
A. 1989 Emergency Action (expired on May 5, 1996)
Although this import restriction expired, unauthorized removal and transport
of the Coroma textiles into the U.S. may be cause for invoking Section
308 (Articles of Stolen Cultural Property) of the Convention on the Cultural
Property Implementation Act, or other applicable laws. Each of the textiles
has been photographed and documented.
B. 2001 Agreement
Bolivian objects described in the Designated List may enter the U.S. only
if they have an export permit issued by the Bolivian government, or verifiable
documentation that they left Bolivia prior to the effective date of the
restriction: December 7, 2001.
C. Under the 1973 Pre-Columbian Monumental or Architectural Sculpture
or Murals Statute, monumental or architectural sculpture or murals may
be imported into the U.S. only with an export license issued by the country
of origin or verifiable documentation that they left the country of origin
prior to June 1, 1973.
V. For More Information
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Revised: June 16, 2008 |
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SELECT
FROM THE FOLLOWING:
Bolivia
Image Collection
2006
Federal Register Notice on Extension of MOU
2006
Revised Article II (English) (Spanish)
2001
Agreement
2001
Designated List (Federal Register Notice)
1989
Federal Register Notice
The Recovery
of Aymara Textiles
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