A wall painting from Pompeii and a Corinthian vase have been returned to Italy by immigration and customs officials in New York City. The artifacts had been scheduled for auction.

A large and luxurious Roman complex of rooms, hidden beneath a Renaissance palazzo, has been opened to visitors until January 6. “The site is almost exactly as we found it. We wanted to respect its authenticity,” said Paco Lancianao, one of the museum’s creators.  

A review of studies of more than 3,000 Egyptian mummies shows that 18 percent of them suffered from serious dental problems in life. Bone disorders, infections, osteoarthritis, hardening of the arteries, and infectious diseases were also noted. Half of them had died between the ages of 20 and 40.  

An 11,000-year-old settlement has been found in Sweden’s far north. “Now the pages in the National Encyclopedia regarding inland ice can be torn out and burned,” said archaeologist Olof Ostlund. It had been thought that no one lived that far north in that period. 

A 1,800-year-old First Nations site on Vancouver Island is caught between a developer and The Cowichan Tribes that can’t afford to buy it. Archaeologists have uncovered graves and human bones, a shell midden, stone and bone tools, and a feature that could be a foundation or a hearth.  

Members of the Dorset Postcard Club are helping English Heritage with the restoration of the Osmington White Horse. Some of the historic images of the 1803 sculpture of King George III on his horse are very clear and stamped with dates.   

 Getting Babylon ready for visitors after the rule of Saddam Hussein and years of war is a top priority for the Iraqi State Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities. “If you took a picture here, the guards would come down from the hill and beat you, smash your camera, and sometimes take you away,” guide Ghanum Duleme said of the Saddam days.

British archaeologists have high hopes for New Place, Shakespeare’s last home. “This is the most exciting think I have ever worked on. To be able to learn more about a single person, who most people can still relate to, is frankly thrilling,” said Kevin Coll, who is leading the dig.  

Teen-aged friends out for a hike in Ohio stumbled across human remains, and called the police. The bones are probably more than 150 years old.   

Construction crews in Guam unearthed what could be the remains of five Japanese soldiers killed during World War II. A hob-nailed boot found with the bones helped osteologist Cherie Walth make the preliminary identification.  

A team of researchers wants to know if an American whaling ship reached Australia before Captain Cook arrived in 1770.  

There’s a new sound and light show at the Egyptian pyramids.