Bolivia has returned the mummy of a child  estimated to have been two years old at the time of death to Peru. The 700-year-old mummy was seized two years ago by police from a woman who had planned to ship it to France. Archaeologists think the child, who had been wrapped in blankets, came from a pre-Inca culture of coastal Peru. Trafficking in human remains is less common than the illegal trade in artifacts.

A rare fourteenth-century copper smelting operation, including traces of a wooden structure, charcoal, slag, and lumps of copper, has been found in Norway, on an island in the Kopperåa River. “It’s hard to figure out why they would place a smeltry here other than to use hydropower for the process. You’d have a hard time finding a more out-of-the-way place,” said Lars Stenvik of the Museum of Natural History and Archaeology in Trondheim. Scholars knew that the metal was used at that time to make coins and church bells, but it had been thought that the materials were imported. Copper smelting eventually became big business in Norway in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

There’s more information available on the tomb of a fifth-dynasty Egyptian princess  that was uncovered in Abusir South. Most members of her royal family were buried in central Abusir or to the south in Saqqara, but her tomb is surrounded by the burials of non-royal officials. “By this unique discovery we open a completely new chapter in the history of Abusir and Saqqara necropolis,” said Miroslav Bárta of the Charles University in Prague.

A fourteenth-century seal made of silver  was unearthed by a metal detector enthusiast on the Isle of Man. The medieval seal belonged to a Christian bishop. “It is a very rare find and an important part of Manx history,” said Allison Fox of Manx National Heritage.

Three objects described as resin embedded with aluminum foil and quartz crystal  have been recovered from the Ohio earthworks known as Serpent Mound. Authorities suspect that hundreds of these objects may have been buried in the ancient earthworks. Those responsible for the crime could face 90 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.

A collection of jewelry and female figurines crafted by early famers in Serbia and known as the Belica Hoard  will soon go on display for the first time in Germany. The 8,000-year-old female figurines were carved from rock that had been worn smooth by water. Other items in the hoard are made of clay and bone. The hoard was found in the middle of an Early Neolithic settlement earlier this year. The artifacts will go on display in Germany because Serbia’s National Museum in Belgrade has been closed since the country’s civil war.

Scientist Brent Alloway of Victoria University in New Zealand planned a free lecture on the discovery of Homo floresiensis, the tiny hominid from the Indonesian island of Flores that is often referred to as “the hobbit” in the press. Titled “The Other Hobbit,” the lecture is scheduled to coincide with the release of the highly anticipated new movie of JRR Tokien’s novel. But a lawyer for the Saul Zaentz Company/Middle-earth Enterprises says that “it is not possible for our client to allow generic use of the trademark HOBBIT.” Alloway decided to rename the event. “Certainly, this name change won’t diminish the curiosity of the New Zealand public nor our collective enthusiasm for the Hobbit – whichever form you might be interested in knowing more about – the movie/book fantasy version or the fossil version found in Flores,” he said.

On the island of Jersey, archaeologists have uncovered a rare medieval priory  that was run by the Abbey of Mont St Michel in France. Scholars knew that the priory existed from documentary evidence, but its location had been lost because the priory and its slate-roofed chapel were probably dissolved by King Henry V in 1413. “All the houses in Jersey and even the court house in town were known to have been thatched in the medieval period. Slate was only imported for the most important buildings,” said Neil Molyneux of the Societe Jersiaise.