RUSSIA:An idol of the Hindu deity Vishnu was found in exacavations at a remote village in the Volga region. The figure, which may be more than 1,000 years old, suggests some kind of contact between India and medieval Russia. vm: PAKISTAN: Another day, another archaeologically rich region faces a massive dam project. The $6.5-billion Diamir-Bhasha Dam will inundate more than four square miles when it is completed. According to German archaeologists working there, it will imperil tens of thousands of rock carvings from the Neolithic period to the sixteenth century. Salvage plans are under consideration. www.archaeology.org CHINA:Inscriptions on two bronze urns found in the Shaanxi province contain 2,800-year-old evidence of bribery. The rare unheroic story is told in first-person by a nobleman who paid his way- in jade- out of accusations of appropriating farmland and slaves. PAPUANEWGUINEA:Scholars have long been intrigued by the stylized faces that appear on early South Pacific Lapita pottery. Now it is thought that the 3,000-year-old faces might not represent ancestors but sea turtles, which are still part of local creation myths. TIhttp://www.archaeology.org