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.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Friday, March 21, 2008. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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