Australian researchers have examined mitochondrial DNA preserved in chicken bones from archaeological sites in Europe, Thailand, the Pacific, Chile, the Dominican Republic, and Spanish colonial sites in Florida, and determined that they all shared an ancient ancestor. “All of our domestic chickens are descended from a few hens that I like to think of as the ‘great, great grandmothers’ of the chicken world,” said Alison Storey of the University of New England. Chickens were domesticated at least 5,400 years ago, somewhere in Southeast Asia, and because chickens do not fly or swim, they would have had to migrate with people.

Ten fragments of terra cotta Nok statues have been returned to Nigeria. Alerted by French customs officials, seven of the artifacts were seized from a shipment at a New York airport. “From what we know the items were stolen from the national museum in Nigeria. There is no report of the items being stolen so now the director-general of the Nigerian museum and antiquities is now being subjected to an investigation,” said Nigeria’s Consul General Habib Baba Habu. Two other Nok figurines and a carved ivory tusk were also handed over to Habu. They were seized in Chicago.

An estimated 160 heritage sites have been damaged by flooding in the Beijing area. Landslides south of the city damaged the Peking Man World Heritage Site at Zhoukoudian, and the museum at the site was flooded, but reports indicate that the major exhibits are safe. “If the rock stratum collapses, it would lose its value for archaeology,” said Zhang Shuangquan of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In Northern Ireland, archaeologists are working quickly to excavate a medieval site on an artificial island known as a crannog. “We’ve found human remains. This was a burial elsewhere that had been removed and for some reason brought to this site and re-buried on the crannog,” said archaeologist Declan Hurl. They’ve also uncovered a fine comb made of bone, a sharp metal blade, a leather shoe, and Bronze Age arrowheads. The site will be demolished for the construction of a new road.

Frederick H. Hanselmann of Texas State University has returned to Panama, where he and a team of archaeologists have recovered artifacts from a seventeenth-century shipwreck thought to have belonged to Captain Henry Morgan. A sword, chests, wooden barrels, and cargo seals will all be examined to see if they offer any clues to the identification of the ship. In 1670, Morgan turned his fleet of ships toward Panama City, but they ran aground on the Lajas Reef. Morgan was still able to defeat Fort San Lorenzo and take Panama City. “Morgan was one of the most infamous privateers of all time, so for me, this is a chance to use archaeological research to bridge the gap between science and pop culture,” said Hanselmann.

A court in Pakistan has given custody of the hundreds of Gandhara artifacts seized from smugglers to the provincial Sindh archaeology department. Qasim Ali Qasim, head of the department, had requested the transfer.

This article from France 24 is an overview of what is known about the threats to Syria’s cultural heritage from the continued heavy fighting. “But it’s really difficult to know what’s happening for two reasons—one, we can’t go in there and two, people inside Syria are afraid to talk on the phone,” said Mathilde Gellin of the Centre National de la Recherce Scientifique.

Scientists have analyzed proteins produced by the human immune system and determined that a 15-year-old Andean Incan girl, whose mummified remains were discovered in 1999, suffered from a chronic respiratory infection at the time of her death some 500 years ago. X-rays of her lungs showed signs of the infection as well. “Pathogen detection in ancient tissues isn’t new, but until now it’s been impossible to say whether the infectious agent was latent or active,” said Angelique Corthals of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. One of the two other mummies discovered with “The Maiden” was also tested, but did not show signs of a respiratory infection.

Scientists continue to debate whether the rise of modern humans, climate change, or a combination of these factors wiped out the Neanderthals. A new study tilts the argument in favor of modern humans, at least in the areas examined. A team of European researchers collected microscopic particles of volcanic glass from archaeological sites in central Europe, Libya, and Greece. The glass was left behind by an eruption known as the Campanian Ignimbrite, which occurred 40,000 years ago and has been suggested as a contributing factor to the demise of the Neanderthals. At all of the sites, the transition from Neanderthal tools to tools crafted by modern humans was found to have taken place before the eruption. “Climate was probably not directly responsible for Neanderthal extinction, and catastrophic events most certainly were not,” said William Davies of the University of Southampton.

Two life-sized lion sculptures dating to the Hittite Empire have been documented in southeastern Turkey. Sculpted from granite by different artists, the lions may have been intended to be part of a monument at a nearby spring. “I think it’s highly likely that the monument was going to be associated with one of the very copious springs that are quite close. There are good parallels for associations of Hittite sculptural traditions with water sources,” said Geoffrey Summers of the Middle East Technical University. The first lion was found at an ancient quarry near the village of Karakiz, the second was found to the northeast of the village. Both lions were damaged by looters looking for treasures.

Fishermen’s huts dating to the fifteenth century are being excavated on the coast of Iceland because the mounds containing them are threatened by erosion. The huts were long-term dwellings during fishing season. Archaeologists have recovered objects related to fishing, in addition to knitting needles and dice made from walrus ivory.

Five people have been convicted of violating the Archaeological Resource Protection Act by taking artifacts from public land managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Fines ranged from $250 to $500 and court costs.