13 AVRIL 2011 NEWS - Pompeii - Crouy - Le Caire - Amman - Sui Vihar - Bangalore - Annigeri -
- 13 AVRIL
- ITALIE – 
– Pompeii - Italy's culture minister Tuesday announced a major new restoration project for the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, following international outrage over the collapse of a house and a wall at the site. Galan said the restoration would make use of laser scanners for 3D-mapping of the site and would involve ministry experts as well as the private sector. "This is a national and international emergency of massive importance.... Gradual restoration is inevitable. Normal upkeep is not possible," he said. On November 6, the House of the Gladiators collapsed at the site after heavy rain. Then on November 30 an ancient wall of the House of the Moralist fell. Located near Naples in southern Italy, Pompeii was buried in ashes by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. It is the most well preserved ancient Roman city in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
- FRANCE – Crouy - Huit hectares à sonder à Crouy, avant l'implantation probable d'un hypermarché et d'autres enseignes commerciales. Une belle surface que le pôle archéologique du conseil général vient de fouiller. « C'est un territoire à haut risque de vestiges, indique Anthony Lefebvre, responsable de l'opération. Nous sommes à proximité de l'oppidum de Villeneuve-Saint-Germain, qui se trouve à une centaine de mètres de l'autre côté de l'Aisne. » Bucy-le-Long, toute proche, est aussi réputée, grâce à des découvertes du début du siècle dernier, pour sa nécropole gauloise. Des tombes à char, avec des femmes parfois, avaient été mises au jour. Le Soissons romain, non plus, n'est pas loin. De fortes probabilités, donc, de découvrir d'intéressants vestiges d'Agecanonix sur ce bout de terrain à deux pas de la Nationale 2. Et des découvertes, il y en a eu : une petite nécropole, plusieurs tombes, avec suffisamment d'éléments permettant de la dater relativement précisément. « Nous sommes au Ve siècle avant Jésus-Christ », explique l'archéologue qui commente : « Nous sommes dans la continuité du type de découvertes faites à Bucy. » De l'ordre de l'exceptionnel ? « Non, mais pas banal non plus. C'est une belle découverte. » C'est par cette nécropole que se sont terminées les fouilles. Quelques jours auparavant, deux sépultures d'enfants d'environ « 7 et 10 ans », datant de l'Âge de fer, avaient été mises au jour. Elles laissent penser qu'il reste encore des choses intéressantes sous terre. D'autant que pour cette phase de diagnostic, les archéologues n'ont pas sondé au peigne fin la totalité des huit hectares de champs. La question du temps et de l'efficacité, c'est une idée fixe. « Au cours de cette phase, nous sondons 10 % du terrain et 15 % dans les endroits sensibles. » Les tranchées creusées dans le sol ont ouvert des fenêtres dans le temps que les archéologues explorent désormais à Laon. Ils rendront, à l'issue de leur étude, un rapport au service régional d'archéologie qui déterminera de la nécessité de pousser plus avant les recherches.méthodologie classique.
- EGYPTE – 
Le Caire - Stolen when vandals and looters broke into the Cairo museum during the January revolution that brought down President Hosni Mubarak, the statue, cataloged as JE 60710.1, is one of three gilded wooden statues of King Tutankhamun that were declared missing in March (the official list of the items that were stolen from the Egyptian museum included a total of 63 objects). Showing the boy king standing in a boat and throwing a harpoon, the statue suffered a minor damage. "A small part of the crown is missing as well as pieces of the legs. The boat is still in the museum, and the figure of the king will be reunited with it and restored," Hawass, who was named minister of antiquities last month, said in a statement. Two other objects were returned to the Tutankhamun collection. One is the pharaoh's gilded bronze and wooden trumpet (JE 62008).It was received in excellent condition and will be put on display immediately- Also returned was a part of Tutankhamun's fan. One face is in good condition, while the other has been broken into 11 pieces. The fourth retrieved piece is a shabti statue cataloged as JE 68984. It is one of 10 missing shabtis belonging to the pharaonic couple Yuya and Tjuya, which recent DNA tests identified as King Tut's great-grandparents- It is still in very good condition. It does not require restoration and will be placed on display again immediately-
- JORDANIE – Amman - Jordan on Tuesday launched the world's largest online antiquities database, which details every archaeological site in the country and aims to help preserve its treasures. Experts said the Middle Eastern Geodatabase for Antiquities is the first such countrywide system. The site uses Geographic Information System, similar to Google Earth, to map 11,000 registered sites in the country — and a click on each reveals inventories of what they contain and reports on their conditions.Jordan hosts a number of World Heritage sites, most famously the 2,000 year-old rose rock city of Petra — but also Umm er-Rassas, a city dating back to the 5th century that features ancient Byzantine churches, and Qasr Amra, an 8th-century Islamic castle. It is also dotted with sites dating from the Neolithic Age, through biblical times to the Crusades. MEGA is the "first countrywide system used by an antiquities department" and is unique becauseit can used both for research and for managing sites in a readily usable format, he said. The online system defines the boundaries of each site, an important factor in trying to prevent urban encroachment on antiquities zones, its creators say. It can help authorities in planning strategies for research and tourism development, and makes it easier for government agencies to share information. Those working in the field can report theft of wear and tear caused by tourist traffic.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42559451/ns/technology_and_science-science/
- PAKISTAN –Sui-Vihar - Punjab University inaugurated research work on the UNESCO sponsored project Sui-Vihar Excavations and Archaeological Reconnaissance of Southern Punjab . The religious art of Buddhist faith in southern Pakistan especially in southern Punjab has its own identity. Unfortunately archaeological reconnaissance like Sui-Vihar had been wasted due to development work and other reasons. Three experts had work on Sui-Vihar among them Dr Rafiq Mughal works on this place in 1977. Now PU has started work on it and excavated new things like stucco, cooper seat field, unicorn, clay and metal which proved that this place is from 1,900 to 2,300 year older of AD.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=41340&Cat=5&dt=4/13/2011
- INDE – Bangalore - Speaking at a seminar on 'History of Bangalore City and Archaeology' on Monday, eminent researcher Dr M Chidananda Murthy said that the name Bengaluru has been derived from the word Bene kallu which means white stone in Kannada. "In old Bengaluru, comprising the area from Mysore Bank Circle till City Market, white stones were abundantly found and that gave the city its name," Dr Chidananda Murthy said. Somanahalli in Magadi Taluk is named after the famous Telegu poet Soma who used to live there. While the word, Kengeri comes from Kempu Neeru which means red water. It was named as the river water there used to be red in colour, the researcher explained-
http://expressbuzz.com/cities/bangalore/interesting-info-on-bengaluru/265137.html
- INDE – Annigeri - The Karnataka state archaeology department is pretty much convinced that the hundreds of skulls found buried in rows in Annigeri near Hubli were a result of a planned massacre. But the department officials prefer to wait for scientific evidence and a “lot of research data” before putting their finger on it. The 601 skulls date back to the 12th century AD. These were first discovered in August 2010. The department sources said they have almost zeroed in on two historical events, which could have led to the massacre. One is an invasion and the invader conducted a “festival of massacre”; the second is a possible massacre by a local ruler targeting a particular community. State archaeology department director, R Gopal, said precise period of massacre would be known through carbon dating the skulls, the results of which are expected in 15 days from the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneshwar. “This is the first archaeological evidence of a massacre of this extent for the whole country,” he said. “We have found skulls buried separately and even on the remains of other body parts there are no ornaments. And the line-up of skulls found at a depth of 1.5 ft clearly indicates that it was a second burial. The place of the burial, which is outside the main gate of the erstwhile fort and near a water body, also points to the massacre theory,” he said. Historians point to massacres by Muhammad Adil Shah, the erstwhile ruler of Bijapur, while Bombay Gazetteer and stone inscriptions found in Annigeri mention massacre by a ruler who invaded this part of the province. But Dr MS Krishna Murthy, retired professor from Mysore University and a archaeology expert, said many angles still need to be analysed before concluding that it was a massacre.
http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_annigeri-skulls-result-of-a-massacre_1531317