(CNN) -- Peru and Yale University have reached an agreement that will return a massive collection of pre-Columbian Inca artifacts to the South American country -- a settlement that could end a lengthy dispute over relics excavated nearly a century ago. A high-level university representative pledged in a 90-minute meeting Friday to return the artifacts excavated from the ancient Inca ruins of Machu Picchu, Peruvian President Alan Garcia said. "The Peruvian government is grateful for this decision and recognizes that Yale University conserved these parts and pieces that otherwise would have been dispersed in private collections throughout the world, and perhaps would have disappeared," Garcia said in a statement.
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A university representative pledges to return the ancient Incan pieces
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Peruvian president says the government is grateful
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They will be turned over to a Peruvian university, the president says
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Peruvian officials have demanded their return for years
Much of the @placeholder collection, he said, consists of shards and fragments, not complete objects that can easily be shown in a museum.