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̽»¨Ö±²¥genome of a child who died some 12,600 years ago in Montana – the oldest known human remains from North America – has been sequenced for the first time.

Our lives are bound up with objects. Museums are evidence of our deep preoccupation with the things that surround us, whether natural or the product of human endeavour. Why do we keep stuff, what do we learn from it – and what does our fascination for objects from our past tell us about being human today?

̽»¨Ö±²¥6,000-year history of the Afro Comb, its extraordinary impact on cultures worldwide, and community stories relating to hair today are being explored in a new exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology in Cambridge.

̽»¨Ö±²¥Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology (MAA) has been announced as one of the ten finalists for the prestigious Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2013. Celebrating the very best UK museums and galleries, it is the largest arts prize in the UK. ̽»¨Ö±²¥prize aims to reward and highlight innovation and creativity in bringing objects and collections to life.

Don’t miss the chance to hear actor and presenter Tony Robinson talking about his work with Channel 4’s Time Team in a public lecture on Monday 11 February. Speedy booking is recommended for this popular event.

̽»¨Ö±²¥first ever conference to focus on the provincial archaeology of the Assyrian empire took place at Cambridge ̽»¨Ö±²¥ last month. A key theme was the recent opening up of the Kurdish Autonomous Region – once at the hub of the empire – to archaeological enquiry.

Ben Cartwright, a member of Cambridge’s Material Culture Lab, is an archaeologist whose research focuses on the ways in which the crafts of spinning and weaving are embedded into the historic culture of the islands of the North Atlantic and remain an important part of island identity.

China’s heritage industry and the politics of the past are just some topics up for discussion in a series of public heritage seminars this term.

Among the numerous treasures at Cambridge ̽»¨Ö±²¥ Library are the private documents of the explorer, John Lewis Burckhardt, who rediscovered Petra 200 years ago today.

Ceramics found on the coast of the Adriatic attest to a hitherto unknown artistic culture which flourished during the last Ice Age, thousands of years before pottery was commonly used.