A new analysis of the skeleton of a Neanderthal man that was discovered in France in 1957 confirms that he was right-handed. His muscular right arm and shoulder, and scratch marks on his teeth from holding objects, indicate that his right hand was used most often. According to a research team led by Virginie Volpato of the Senckenberg Institute, right handedness is a mark of left-brain dominance. “The long-known connection between brain asymmetry, handedness, and language in living populations serves as a proxy for estimating brain lateralization in the fossil record and the likelihood of language capacity in fossils,” they wrote.

The British Museum has announced it would discuss a short-term loan of some of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece, but not a permanent return. Acropolis Museum director Demetrios Pantermalis had suggested at a UNESCO meeting earlier this summer that the British Museum return small fragments of the famous friezes. “I proposed an arrangement to colleagues from the British Museum, involving pieces—hands, heads, legs—that belong to bodies from the Parthenon sculptures and can be reattached,” he said.

Following a theft at the Colombo Museum and 125 looting cases this year, the Archaeology Department of Sri Lanka is proposing tougher penalties for treasure hunters, including no bail, mandatory jail terms, and in increase in fines. “For the most part, these are villagers who have been drawn into illegal excavation by some moneyed bosses. It appears that they somehow get away,” explained M.A.J.R. Madagammana, Archaeology Department Museum and Maintenance Deputy Director.

Bangladesh’s 2,500-year-old city of Pundranagar has been listed by the Global Heritage Fund as one of Asia’s top ten most endangered ancient sites. Once a center of Buddhist teaching, its buildings have been dismantled by squatters, who construct new dwellings with the ancient bricks. They also collect and sell artifacts, including the beads and coins that surface after heavy rains, and sell them. “The houses were built before the authorities could take a serious stand on conservation. We were late to wake up. Had we tried to stop this before, we could have saved many valuable artifacts,” said chief government archaeologist M. Sadequzzaman.

Continuing excavations at the site of Turkey’s Ilisu Dam have uncovered two Roman theater masks. One of the masks is made of iron, the other of bronze. “During ancient times there were no theater stages near Ilisu, so we think these masks came from traveling theater communities coming to Ilisu in ancient times,” said Davut Beliktay, Mardin Culture and Tourism Manager.

A New Zealand woman claims she was given outlaw Ned Kelly’s skull while traveling in Australia 30 years ago. “I have treated it with respect; I haven’t lit candles in it or drunk red wine out of it or anything bohemian like that,” she said. However, Gina McFarlane of Auckland University says that wires at the back of the skull suggest it had been used in teaching.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Thursday, August 30, 2012. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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