10 JUILLET 2013 NEWS: Derby - Pinghu - T Narsipura - Isla de Mona - Châteauneuf - Paris -

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ROYAUME UNI –  Derby - A dig as part of river flood defence works has discovered a possible new Roman settlement, in the Chester Green area of Derby. Oxford Archaeology, which is leading the dig, has found a ditch and a stone wall, building stone fragments, and part of a skeleton, all thought to be Roman. They are similar to the type of Roman settlement that would have been found beside a fort. The latest discoveries add to those found at nearby sites in April and May, and it is likely that further investigations will take place in the area.

http://www.itv.com/news/central/update/2013-07-10/possible-new-roman-settlement-unearthed-in-derby/ 

CHINE –   Pinghu - Experts believe carved symbols found on stone implements and crockery in Zhejiang province date back more than 5,000 years, marking the oldest written Chinese language, Guangming Daily reported. The carvings were found in ruins in Pinghu, Zhejiang province during 2003 to 2006. The archaeologists found more than 240 stone pieces with carved symbols in the archaeological excavations. On Saturday, ancient writing experts from across China gathered to research the carvings, and they believed the symbols were Chinese. The carved symbols are not isolated characters but form complete sentences, said Li Boqian, professor of the School of Archaeology and Museology at Peiking University. Before the finding, the oldest writings in China were believed to be the Jiaguwen, or "oracle bone script", which date back 3,600 years.

http://english.people.com.cn/90782/8320014.html

INDE –  T Narsipura - A stone inscription believed to be of the period of 17th century has been found in River Cauvery at T Narsipura in the district.  According to the locals and retired employee of the department of Archaeology, Nanjaiah, the stone goes by the local name ‘rudrapada’. It is precisely found in the middle of Agastheswara and Bhiksheshwara temples.  On top of the stone, carvings of ‘Shivalinga’ and ‘Pada’ (foot) and a hole can also be seen, giving credence to another belief that, there could be a ‘Basavana Kamba’ (pillar) next to it. The hole is the only remaining part of it. The inscription could have been dedicated by Somaiah and Shidyeya of Triyambakapura during ‘Vilamba Samvatsara’ in 1658. According to the director of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage R Gopal, who visited the site along with epigraphist H M Nagaraj Rao, the inscription can be seen whenever the water level in the river subsides.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/343775/decrease-water-level-brings-stone.html 

PUERTO RICO –  Isla de Mona - Isla de Mona is the third-largest island of the Puerto Ricanarchipelago, after the main island of Puerto Rico. It is the largest of three islands located in the Mona Passage, a strait between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, the others being Monito Island and Desecheo Island. El Corazón del Caribe research project is an ongoing research program. In May, Dr Jago Cooper and Dr Alice Samson flew to the Caribbean to conduct an exploratory research in an uninhabited national park on the island of Mona in Puerto Rico. There the two researchers found more than they planned or expected, as Dr Cooper writes.  “Alerted to the potential presence of archaeological sites dating to the pre-Columbian period (prior to AD 1492 when Christopher Columbus first arrived in the Americas) by National park manager Tony Nieves, we went to take a look. We discovered extensive pre-Columbian mining and artistic practices deep inside caves, with an astonishing abundance and diversity of new rock art including pictographs and finger-incised designs representing abstract, human and animal images. “Designs, which cover the walls and ceilings of hundreds of metres of the darkest caverns and tunnels across the island were executed by the application of pigments to cave walls, and by previously undocumented techniques such as incising and dragging fingers through the very soft, plaster-like deposit on the cave walls. This particular technique left white trails of surprising freshness, complexity and elaborateness. “Strikingly the technique also appears to have been a way of harvesting the soft deposit on the cave walls as is attested by the vigorous finger scratching across large expanses of cave surfaces in all of the sites we visited. These extractive activities, or evidence for ancient mining, rather than being indiscriminate movements, were systematic and deliberate actions leaving complex designs. “Alongside Dr Samson I’m working in collaboration with the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources and the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture to develop a project to study the pre-Columbian archaeology of the island and protect this unique Caribbean heritage. Many of the caves we explored have not been visited since guano (essentially bat excrement, a very effective fertilizer) miners working there downed tools 120 years ago, leaving the ruins of railway tracks, wagons and sometimes their initials on the cave walls.

http://www.archaiologia.gr/en/blog/2013/07/10/new-rock-art-discovered-in-the-caribbean/ 

FRANCE –  Châteauneuf - Fin juin, le conseil régional, maître d’ouvrage de l’opération, a lancé la première tranche de travaux visant à rénover Châteauneuf, l’une des figures emblématiques de la Bourgogne. Dans le verger excavé attenant au château, les coups de pelles ont révélé la présence de murs inconnus. Rapidement, les services de la Direction régionale des affaires culturelles de Bourgogne en accord avec la Région ont dépêché, du lundi 1er au vendredi 5 juillet, une équipe de l’Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives avec pour objectif d’évaluer l’importance de la découverte. « Ces fouilles microscopiques ont confirmé la présence de murets de largeurs et de niveaux différents. La datation semble authentifier le XIIIe siècle. Ils étaient recouverts par des éléments plus modernes (XVIe siècle). Il s’agit probablement de restes de fortifications qui pourraient correspondre à la période la plus ancienne du château », a indiqué Laurent Vaxelaire, adjoint scientifique et technique de l’Inrap pour la région Bourgogne. Relevés topographiques et photographies faits, l’enquête archéologique va se poursuivre sans pour autant impacter le chantier initial.

http://www.bienpublic.com/cote-d-or/2013/07/10/les-fouilles-achevees-les-travaux-peuvent-reprendre

FRANCE –  Paris - Un important incendie a dévasté dans la nuit de mardi à mercredi l'hôtel Lambert, un chef-d'oeuvre architectural situé sur l'île Saint-Louis à Paris. Le feu, qui n'a fait aucune victime, a été circonscrit vers 07h30 par les pompiers de Paris qui ont lutté pendant plusieurs heures contre les flammes qui ont ravagé l'hôtel particulier dessiné par l'architecte Louis Le Vau au XVIIe siècle. "Le feu s'est déclaré vers 01h30 au niveau de la toiture pour des raisons encore inconnues et s'est ensuite propagé rapidement", a dit à Reuters le lieutenant colonel Pascal Le Testu, porte-parole des sapeurs-pompiers de Paris.  Les flammes ont fragilisé la structure de l'hôtel, entraînant l'effondrement partiel d'un escalier et d'un fronton au niveau de la partie centrale, a-t-il ajouté. "Il y a dans cet hôtel un certain nombre d'oeuvres d'art et également des peintures au plafond", a-t-il dit en précisant que les pompiers avaient essayé de les préserver mais que certaines oeuvres avaient subi des dégâts en raison des flammes, de l'eau, des fumées ou du "rayonnement thermique". La superbe galerie peinte par Charles Le Brun, l'un des auteurs de la galerie des Glaces qui sera construite plus tard au château de Versailles, a subi d'importants dommages. La ministre de la Culture, Aurélie Fillippetti, a confirmé ces dégâts qu'il sera difficile de réparer. "La perte la plus importante est le cabinet des Bains peint par Lesueur, due à un effondrement", a-t-elle dit sur place.

http://fr.news.yahoo.com/important-incendie-%C3%A0-lh%C3%B4tel-lambert-%C3%A0-paris-072345321.html