Turning again to Peru, the pride towards the pre-Columbian antiquities
seems to have only emerged in the 1890s, at the time of an increased eVort at
local development (Patterson 1989: 38). In 1892 a Junta Conservadora (Pre-
servation Committee) was created by Supreme Decree and put in charge of
the care of monuments and the organization of excavations (Bonavia 1984:
110). In 1905 the Instituto Histo ́rico del Peru ́(Institute for the History of
Peru) was created, and in the same year the government approached the
German archaeologist Max Uhle to form the core collection for a National
Archaeological Museum. Uhle worked for the museum between 1906 and
1911,Wrst in the section of ‘Archaeology and Savage Tribes’ and from 1907 as
director. The archaeological sequences of Peruvian archaeology devised by
Uhle would form the basis for all subsequent work in the area. However, he
never abandoned his diVusionist thesis for the development of the Andean
civilization. This had already been proposed by the Argentinian Vicente Fidel
Lo ́pez in the 1870s. However, instead of arguing, like Lo ́pez, for the Aryan
descent of the Incas, Uhle claimed a Chinese origin for them (Quijada
Maurin ̃o 1996: 257–9; Rowe 1954). In this way, he managed to keep the
Andean ancient culture apart from any connection with Western civilization.
At the same time he maintained that the Inca civilization had arrived from
outside the continent in a manner similar to the new wave of civilization
that was being brought by the Europeans like him, who were in this way
legitimized (Patterson 1989: 39; 1995a: 72). In 1911 theWrst native archae-
ologist in Latin America, a medical graduate of the University of San Marcos
in Lima, Julio Tello (1880–1947), obtained a doctorate in anthropology at
Harvard. His role in Peruvian archaeology falls outside the chronological
framework of this book, but his work heralds what was to come, a deWnitive
recuperation of the native heritage as part of the Peruvian national past.
AWnal note: the International School of Archaeology
and Ethnology of MexicoA few years after the period under investigation would see the design of an
experiment that aimed to overcome informal imperialism through its inter-
national character and anti-racist rationale. This was the International School
of Archaeology and Ethnology of Mexico City formed in 1911. The school was
international because teaching was undertaken by scholars from the United
States, France, and Germany as well as from Mexico. Its aim was to provide
training in research and publication for advanced students. Organized by
Franz Boas (1858–1942), itsWrst director was the German Eduard Seler
184 Archaeology of Informal Imperialism