Bolivia: artifacts

Bolivia vests archaeological material in the state. Archaeological material is state property; export prohibited. The governing law is Decreto Supremo 05918 (1961); Ley 530 (2014) del Patrimonio Cultural Boliviano; the date Stratum treats as decisive is 1961 (the year of enactment — the exact commencement has not been checked, so the conservative reading is used). An object documented outside Bolivia before that date is sold with the document cited; one documented only later is sold with a warning that Bolivia could regard the export as unlawful, and the ownership history stated in full; one with no provenance at all is not listed.

The United States restricts import of Bolivia archaeological material of 10000 BCE – 1900 CE and ethnological material under the CPIA (T.D. 01-86; extended CBP Dec. 21-18, restricted since 2001). Entry needs the export certificate or proof the object left Bolivia before 2001. Domestic resale of material already lawfully in the US is not restricted by this, but the paper is what a buyer will ask for.

Monumental and architectural sculpture and murals from Bolivia — stelae, altars, lintels, wall panels, wall art — need a source-country export certificate to enter the United States under the Pre-Columbian statute (19 U.S.C. 2091–2095 (Pre-Columbian Monumental or Architectural Sculpture or Murals statute, 1972)), since 1973.

US courts have applied foreign patrimony laws through the National Stolen Property Act (United States v. McClain, 1977; United States v. Schultz, 2003): an object exported after a clear vesting law can be stolen property in the United States even when no US import restriction existed at the time. The date of the earliest document that places an object outside Bolivia is therefore the single most valuable fact on its record.