“Echenique Disc” returned to Peru

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian returned a pre-Incan gold ornament from its collection to Peru. The repatriated item, an “Echenique Disc,” is recognized as the symbol of the city of Cusco in Peru, once the capital of the Inca Empire. The object is a circular thin sheet of metal measuring 5.3 inches in diameter. It’s made of 90% gold, 5% silver, and 5% copper, and crafted with techniques commonly used in ancient Andean metal work. Experts have dated the item to the pre-Inca Early Horizon Period (800 BCE to 1 CE).