A Yale delegation has traveled to Peru to inspect the location that will house artifacts discovered at Machu Picchu when the University starts to return the items early next year.

The delegation — consisting of Yale professor Richard Burger and Peabody Museum curator Lucy Salazar and two members of Yale’s legal counsel from the United States and Peru — met with the rector of the National University of San Antonio Abad in Cusco, Yale spokesman Tom Conroy said in an e-mail to the News Sunday. The group came to discuss Yale’s future collaboration with the university in Cusco, as well as arrangements for permanently housing the artifacts at a new institution the Peruvian school will build.

“The discussions were very productive,” Conroy said, adding that more details will be released after the group returns from Peru.

Yale and the Peruvian government signed a memorandum of understanding on Nov. 23 that states that the University will return a set of Inca artifacts held in New Haven for nearly 100 years before Dec. 31, 2012. The agreement also outlines plans for future collaboration between Peru and Yale to preserve and continue research on the artifacts.