Researchers have identified a mutation on human chromosome 21 responsible for the condition microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II. At the end of their article on the discovery in Science, the team suggests that this mutation might account for the stature and brain size of Indonesia’s hobbits, Homo floresiensis. But physical anthropologist Charles Hildebolt, who has studied the hobbit bones, responds to the idea that “Flores man” carried this mutation “the pathology of the week.”

The University of Virginia will return to Italy two acroliths looted from Morgantina. The university received the sculptures as a gift in 2002. This second article from the university’s student paper, The Cavalier Daily, was published last September. It gives more information about the parts of the acroliths that the museum had, and what was known of their provenance.

Here’s a short interview with Egyptologist Bob Brier to publicize his new IMAX film, Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs.

A second Koguryo Dynasty (37 B.C. to 668 A.D.) tomb was uncovered in Pangyo, South Korea. Most Koguryo tombs have been found in North Korea.

National Public Radio has produced a three-part series on the impact of China’s Three Gorges Dam. The third part focuses on how the dam has affected the region’s cultural heritage, including the Stone Treasure Fortress, now surrounded by a protective wall, and the ancient village of Dachang, which was moved and rebuilt on a hill as “a sort of theme park.” This link will take you to an overview of the entire series.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Friday, January 4, 2008. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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