NEWSPAPER ARTICLES:

COLUMBIANS SEEK RETURN OF STONE STATUES
A petition targets artifacts sent to Germany after WWI
By Chris Kraul.  Los Angeles Times, December 28, 2012.

"Nearly a century ago, Konrad Preuss did pioneering work in Columbia's most important archaeological zone, called San Agustin.  But the German archaeologist also took 35 stone statues back to Germany, and now residents of the southern Columbian region where he worked have mounted a campaign to get them back..."

For more on this story, please go to the direct link:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-colombia-statues-20121228,0,7831131.story


TAIWAN RITUAL HONORS LOST TRIBE OF 'SMALL PEOPLE'
Dancing and feasts are meant to thank the vanquished group for its farming wisdom
By Ralph Jennings.  Los Angeles Times, January 2, 2013

..."About 600 people performed the exhausting ritual last weekend that honors a pygmy-like people, skin a dark as those from equatorial Africa, who Chu's own tribe admits to exterminating in battle between 1,000 and 2,000 years ago..."

For more on this story, please go to the direct link:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-taiwan-pygmies-20130102,0,1662679.story


STUDY EXAMINES ABORIGINES' HERITAGE
Research suggests the native Australians weren't genetically isolated for as long as previously believed
By Rosie Mestel.  Los Angeles Times, January 15, 2013.

"When modern humans left Africa as far back as 70,000 years ago, they dispersed across the world, reaching Australia 50,000 to 40,000 years ago.  From then until the 18th-century arrival of European colonists, aboriginal Australians did not mix their DNA with anymore else in the world - or so many scientists believed..."

For more on this story, please go to the direct link:
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-india-australia-migration-20130115,0,2393922.story


GETTY STUDIES ITS ANTIQUITIES
The review focuses on the origins of the museum's collection in ancient art in the aftermath of a scandal
By Jason Felch.  Los Angeles Times, January 19, 2013.

"In the wake of a scandal over its acquisition of looted antiquities, the J. Paul Getty Museum is trying to verify the ownership histories of 45,000 antiquities and publish the results in the museum's online collections database..."

For more on this story, please go to the direct link:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-getty-ambers-20130119,0,1165994.story


ANCIENT BUDDHAS, MODERN PERIL
Chinese-led copper mining threatens Afghan monasteries
By Andrew Lawler.  New York Times, December 23, 2012.

When the Taliban blasted the famous Bamiyan Buddhas with artillery and dynamite in March 2001, leaders of many faiths and countries denounced the destruction as an act of cultural terrorism.  But today, with the encouragement of the American government, Chinese engineers are preparing a similar act of desecration in Afghanistan: the demolition of a vast complex of richly decorated ancient Buddhist monasteries.

For more on this story, please go to the direct link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/opinion/sunday/chinese-led-copper-mining-threatens-afghan-buddhist-monasteries.html?_r=0