ITHACA, N.Y. -- Just 10 days after a phone call from Amanaka'a, an Amazonian advocacy group that closed its New York offices this month, Cornell University's Anthropology Collections found itself in possession of rare Amazonian artifacts.

"The call came on a Friday and by the following Wednesday our curator was driving down in a van to get the materials here," said Theodore Bestor, professor of anthropology at Cornell. "We were able to arrange, almost overnight, for the Anthropology Collections to receive Amanaka'a's collection of Amazonian artifacts."

The transfer was made through the quick efforts of Terry Turner, professor of anthropology; Laura Johnson-Kelly, curator of anthropology collections; Leda Martins, a doctoral candidate, who is herself Brazilian; and Bestor, the acting chair of the anthropology department.

The acquisition of indigenous artifacts is often a controversial issue. But Bestor explained this is "quite a different situation because these are artifacts that were produced and collected for exhibition in the United States through a collaboration of the Amazonian indigenous peoples and a rain forest advocacy group, with the cooperation of the Brazilian government."

The purpose of the collection was, Bestor said, "to demonstrate the range of diversity of cultures among Amazonian peoples and to educate others about the destruction of their cultures, their habitats and their lives as development has increasingly encroached upon the Amazon basin."

The range and depth of the collection is extremely unusual in North America.

Editor's Note: Bestor, Turner and Johnson-Kelly are available for interviews to discuss the acquisition.

Bestor may be reached at (607) 255-3505 or by e-mail tb13@cornell.edu;

Turner may be reached in Chicago at (773) 702-7724, email tst3@cornell.edu;

Johnson-Kelly may be reached at 255-8401, email lwj1@cornell.edu

"Many of the artifacts are of a kind and quality not usually allowed to be exported," said Bestor. "They were carefully collected with the cooperation of indigenous groups, and so the collection also has extensive documentation of the objects and their contexts."

The collections staff is now in the process of cataloging the collection and is planning a small exhibition of the new acquisitions. Turner, who is a renowned expert on Amazonian cultures and on indigenous rights, also will be using some of the artifacts in classes he will be teaching next semester. Turner is joining Cornell's faculty in January, after many years on the faculty of the University of Chicago.