From the arrival of the earliest modern humans over 40,000 years ago to the population of the present day, the story of the people of Britain is one of ongoing movement, migration and settlement. A new exhibition at Oxford University Museum of Natural History asks where we came from, and presents surprising answers through archaeological evidence, genetic analysis, and interactive data. Opening with a showcase of remains from the oldest known ceremonial burial in Western Europe, the 33,000-year-old ‘Red Lady’ of Paviland (actually a man), the Settlers exhibition charts the patterns of migration that have shaped Britain since the islands became continuously inhabited at the end of the last Ice Age, around 12,000 years ago. “The movement of people across international borders is the subject of much social and political debate across the world, and in Britain and Europe in particular,” says Professor Paul Smith, dir

France returned three paintings by the Flemish master Joachim Patinir Monday to the descendants of a Jewish family who were forced to sell them as they fled the Nazis. The Bromberg family fled to Paris from Germany in late 1938 and were forced to sell the 16th-century “Triptych of the Crucifixion” depicting Christ on the cross the following year, along with several other paintings so they could get to the United States via Switzerland. The paintings were formally handed over to the descendants of Herta and Henry Bromberg at the Louvre Museum by French Culture Minister Francoise Nyssen. It is the second time in two years that the French state has returned despoiled art to the family. In 2016 it handed over another 16th-century painting, “Portrait of a Man”, by one of the followers of Antwerp artist Joos van Cleve.

Israeli archaeologists on Thursday unveiled what they called a “rare and beautiful” Roman mosaic floor excavated in the ancient Mediterranean port city of Caesarea. A statement from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said the piece, from the 2nd or 3rd century AD, measures more than 3.5 by 8 metres (11 by 26 feet). “We uncovered a mosaic floor of a Roman building from 1,800 years ago,” Uzi Ad, one of the directors of the dig, said at the site. “It is a high-quality and colourful mosaic with three figures,” he said. It depicts three prosperous-looking males wearing togas, one facing the viewer and the other two in profile. “We can find similar mosaics only in Cyprus and northern Syria,” Ad said. “In Israel we have never before found the same quality.”

The Mocking of Samson, a painting in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), has been reattributed to Jan Steen. After extensive research, specialists from the Mauritshuis have concluded that the painting — long thought to have been an eighteenth-century copy after Jan Steen – is by the master himself. Its style of painting, technique and subject matter are entirely in keeping with Steen’s oeuvre. The painting has undergone technical examination at the Mauritshuis in collaboration with Shell and conservation treatment by conservators from the museum. The newly restored and rediscovered Steen from Antwerp will feature as one of the highlights of the upcoming exhibition Jan Steen’s Histories, on at the Mauritshuis from 15 February. Emilie Gordenker, director of the Mauritshuis: ‘During the process of selecting the loans for the Jan Steen’s Histories exhibition, our curator Ari