A 12-foot-tall statue of Queen Tiy was unearthed near Egypt’s Colossi of Memnon, which once guarded a temple dedicated to her husband, Amenhotep III. Two sphinxes representing the two royals, and 10 statues of Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess who protected the pharaohs, were also found.

Skull measurements have helped scientists determine the sex of Then-Hotep, a 2,600-year-old mummy housed at the Louisville Science Center.  

A house pit, clay oven, and fire pit dating to 850 B.C. have been discovered inland on Vancouver Island. Archaeologists think that the site was used to prepare and roast camas lily bulbs.  

In Bangladesh, archaeologists have uncovered the floor of an earlier brick structure beneath the main Buddhist temple at the World Heritage site of Paharpur. They think it may represent a Jain temple seen by Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang between 639 and 645 A.D.  

Here’s another story on the fifth anniversary of the looting of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.  

Skeletons are turning up at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco. The city’s archives show that there had been a cemetery on the property between 1856 and 1966, which was supposed to have been relocated in 1968. It turns out that only the headstones were moved.  

Researchers at Rome University and the power company Acea are working together to create a light beam that would mimic the paint that once covered Trajan’s Column.  

Excavations in Savannah, Georgia, uncovered some eighteenth-century artifacts. Be sure to click on the “Video” tab and view the tape in order to see the objects.  

The CBS news program 60 Minutes trots out the story of the James Ossuary and the trial of accused forger Oded Golan for the Easter holiday.  

And, not to be outdone, Discovery News has a story on the Shroud of Turin.

An art scam perpetrated in Indonesia allegedly involves the Radya Pustaka, the country’s oldest museum; fake sculptures; businessmen connected to the royal family and the government; the international black market; an alert archaeology student; and the suspicious death of archaeologist Lambang Barbur Purnomo.

New measurements of a hip and upper leg bone from Orrorin tugenensis show that this possible early human ancestor walked upright six million years ago.  

Andres Luiz-Linares of University College London studied 13 Mestizo, or “mixed,” populations in South America. “There is a clear genetic signature,” he explained. “The initial mixing occurred predominately between immigrant and European men and native and African women,” he added.  

More than 600 Qin Dynasty tombs containing pottery and bronze artifacts such as cauldrons, pots, jars, axes, and swords, have been found in China’s Shaanxi Province.  

Archaeologists working at the Neolithic site of Gracanica have discovered a skeleton they are calling the oldest known Macedonian.  

The frozen mummy known as the “Altai Princess” will return home to Siberia’s Altai Republic. “A decision has been taken to build a sloping building for the mummy, resembling a burial mound. This will be an extension to the main building of the national museum,” said the director of the museum.  

National Geographic News has some photographs taken in 2003 at the Iraq National Museum, and one photograph taken this week.  There’s also a video of artifacts that have been returned to the plundered museum.  

Meanwhile, there’s a report from Iraq that a Babylonian town has been discovered south of Baghdad.