“The history of civilization in this region has suddenly gone back by around 20,000 years,” an unnamed archaeologist reportedly said of the discovery of small stone weapons in the Indian state of West Bengal.

In 2005, police in India confiscated a Buddha statue from smugglers that they are said to have thought was made of gold. Museum authorities, who now have the statue, say that the figure is bronze, and created in the mid-nineteenth century.  

Should Pakistan’s artisans be allowed to make replicas of Gandhara-style antiquities? Government officials and archaeologists give reasons for and against the practice.  

The Boston Globe counters director of the Art Institute of Chicago James Cuno’s argument for a larger trade in licit antiquities with comments from noted archaeologists Ricardo Elia of Boston University, David Gill of Swansea University, and Brian Rose of the University of Pennsylvania and president of the AIA.   

The first excavation within the circle of Stonehenge since 1964 is underway. Archaeologists will try to date the Double Bluestone Circle, an earlier structure at the site, and how and when the bluestones traveled to Salisbury Plain from southwest Wales. Be sure to watch the two videos.  

Mayor of Easter Island Pedro Edmunds Paoa says he wants Finnish tourist Marko Kulju’s ear. Mr. Kulju, 26, is accused of chipping an earlobe off a Moai.  

Learn about Finland’s rock art in the Helsinki Times.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Monday, March 31, 2008. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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