stolen. it's a harsh word, especially when you're dealing with art or museum pieces. while most of the world's goods are manufactured, few of the irreplacable material objects in today's society are found in museums.

many of the irreplacable objects of the past can be found in museums, however. the stance that america and yale university took when confronted by the peruvian government was, "we didn't steal artifacts to your heritage. our forefathers did."