07-09 MAI 2014 NEWS: Pentridge - Dublin - Yangqu - Kom al-Ahmar - Lincoln -
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AUSTRALIE - 
Pentridge - Archaeologists say remains of a rare, circular 1850s prison block unearthed at the former Pentridge Prison is of world significance in penal history.It was part of a brutal 19th-century movement to keep prisoners in solitary contemplation, under total surveillance. Pentridge had three: this one, next to A Division on the north of the site is the first to be unearthed. Later in May, excavation will start on two more next to B Division to the south. Archaeologist and ABC TV host Adam Ford said a teenage Ned Kelly, when at Pentridge for three years in the early 1870s, would have spent time in at least one of them. ‘‘He went in to Pentridge a 16-year-old as a ratbag and came out as a hardened criminal with a big chip on his shoulder.’’ In A Division, new prisoners spent 23 hours alone in their tiny cells, and for the remaining hour were each marched, with caps over their eyes, into the adjacent, one-man, wedge shaped panopticon ‘‘airing yard’’. Guards watching from a central tower knew prisoners by number. The yard had no roof, and inmates were expected to stay silent and study the Bible. The method was ditched by the early 1900s as prisoner numbers and therefore cell sharing increased. After its demolition in the 1950s, the ruins were buried under a yard by the time Pentridge closed in 1997.
IRLANDE – 
Dublin - A major project aimed at documenting the history of Dublin Castle from its early period in the 17th Century to the 1980s will be launched by the Government.The study, based on archaeological, geophysical and topographical surveys, will examine the history of the castle between 1684 – the year it was almost completely destroyed by a fire – to 1980. The Department of Heritage has begun searching for researchers to compile the early and late history of the castle, which was the seat of British rule in Ireland, as part of the project. One aspect to be examined in the study is the findings of excavations that took place at the caste between 1985 and 1987. The excavations revealed the sequence of building on the site, which ranged from Viking Age houses to the construction of the medieval castle and its large moat, the medieval town defences and later post-medieval housing. Artefacts belonging to these different periods were also recovered. During that work, finds were made of items such as a wig-curler, pipes and stone wine jars. The castle was originally commissioned on the site on August 30, 1204 by King John of England.
http://www.herald.ie/news/history-of-dublin-castle-to-be-studied-30259884.html
CHINE - Yangqu -Over 1,000 ancient Buddha statues have been found in north China's Shanxi Province, a local cultural relics protection department said today. The Buddha statues were found in three stone caves in a cliff in Yangqu County and could date back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), according to local archaeologists. The stone statues carved into the cave walls are 12 to 25 centimeters long, said Yang Jifu, director of the county's cultural heritage tourism bureau. Yang said two of the caves had been restored in the Ming Dynasty, according to the record on two steles in the caves. Archaeologists with the institute of archaeology of Taiyuan, capital of the province, said that stone Buddha statue art reached its peak during the period from the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589) to the Tang Dynasty (618-907), so it is rare to find stone Buddha statues from the Ming Dynasty. The discovery will contribute to the research on the development and change in religious art in northern ancient China, according to the archaeologists.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/national/Ancient-Buddha-statues-found-in-north-China/shdaily.shtml?
EGYPTE – 
Kom al-Ahmar -Egypt said Wednesday archaeologists have unearthed a 5,600-year-old preserved tomb and mummy predating the pharaonic First Dynasty, a discovery that will shed new light on the pre-dynastic era. The tomb was built before the rule of king Narmer, the founder of the First Dynasty who unified Upper and Lower Egypt in the 31th century BC, the antiquities ministry said in a statement. The tomb was discovered in the Kom al-Ahmar region, between Luxor and Aswan, on the site of ancient Hierakonpolis, the city of the falcon, which was the capital of the Kingdom of Upper Egypt. The archaeologists found an ivory statue of a bearded man and the mummy of the tomb's owner, who appeared to have died in his late teenage years, the ministry said. They also found 10 ivory combs as well as tools, blades and arrow heads, it said. The tomb's preserved state will provide new information on pre-dynastic rituals, said Renee Friedman, the head of the multinational archeological team. The tombs of king Narmer and king Ka, a pre-dynastic pharaoh who paved the way to Egypt's unification, were previously discovered in Hierakonpolis.
ROYAUME UNI – 
Lincoln - Human remains have been found by contractors replacing a faulty water meter in a Lincoln street. Anglian Water’s work in St Martin’s Lane initially uncovered what were believed to be animal bones. But after Balfour Beatty temporarily stopped work to allow investigation of the site, Trent Peak Archaeology project supervisor Ruth Humphreys confirmed that they had uncovered a Christian burial. Believed to date back to medieval times, the grave on continued excavation also contained bones in a coffin. The archaeologist recorded all the details of the St Martin’s Lane discovery, which was later covered over out of respect for the centuries-old deceased Lincolnian.