14 - 15 MAI 2011 NEWS : Swash Channel - Pensacola - Puy Long - Changping - Mitchell - Kühnsdorf -– Semgamuwa - Zejtun - Stirling Castle - Wat Thungsawang Damrongtham - Delos -
- 14 – 15 MAI
- ROYAUME UNI – 
Swash Channel - The shipwreck of a 17th century merchant vessel off the coast of England is going to be raised from the sea. An armed merchant vessel that plied the high seas sank in the Swash Channel off the coast of Dorset more than 300 years ago. Underwater archaeology teams have been studying the wreck and have found cannon, pottery, and an intriguing face of a man carved into the rudder. Their work has had to speed up as sediment is eroding away, leaving the old wood exposed to decay and attack by shipworms, which cut holes into the wood. Researchers have decided the only thing to do is to raise the ship out of the water and conserve the wood for future study. Sadly, some of the ship is so decayed that it will have to be left on the sea bottom. It will be reburied in sediment to prevent further decay. The salvage operation planned for this summer is going to be a tricky one. A ship hasn't been raised from UK waters since the Mary Rose was brought to the surface in 1982.
http://www.gadling.com/2011/05/14/archaeologists-to-raise-17th-century-shipwreck/
- USA – Pensacola - Archaeological sites abound in the area, from land to green Gulf waters. Hickory Ridge Cemetery :this Mississippian period site, located north of Big Lagoon and west of Pensacola, was investigated by the University of West Florida. Carbon dating was done on burnt wood fragments associated with burials in the mound, with a determination that the site had been used circa 1450 AD. It has since been added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The Arcadia Mill Archaeological Site in Milton represents the largest 19th-century water-powered industrial complex in Northwest Florida. Follow Pensacola's history along the Colonial Archaeological Trail, which stretches from Ferdinand Plaza to Seville Square. The trail covers the area where the British Fort of Pensacola once stood. All of the trailside exhibits relate to features that were part of British Pensacola. The USS Massachusetts : this U.S. Naval vessel was commissioned in 1896 and scuttled just outside Pensacola Bay in 1921. Now part of Florida's Underwater Archaeological Preserves. San Joseph de Escambe Mission : in 2009, a UWF terrestrial archaeological field school located the northernmost Spanish mission associated with Pensacola's colonial presidios. The site, along the Escambia River in Molino, was inhabited during the 1750s.
- FRANCE – 
Puy Long - A l’issue d’une campagne de fouille qui aura duré deux ans, Paléotime, société d’archéologie préventive aura mis au jour une nécropole datant de l’âge de Bronze ancien sur le site de Beaulieu. Là où sera édifié l’incinérateur. Qualifié de remarquable par les archéologues, ce site a révélé une zone d’habitation ainsi qu’une quarantaine de coffres funéraires. Les engins ayant pris possession du site, c’est désormais en laboratoire que les archéologues vont travailler sur une cette moisson exceptionnelle. Voir video :
http://www.centrefrance.kewego.fr/video/iLyROoafzl9U.html
- CHINE – Changping - Authorities in north China's Shanxi Province said Wednesday that they are planning to apply for UNESCO World Heritage status for the ruins of a famous battlefield where the State of Qin won its decisive victory over the State of Zhao, which ultimately allowed for the unification of China over 2,000 years ago. The Battle of Changping, one of history's most lethal military operations, took place in 262 BC and ended three years later during the Warring States Period (475 BC - 221 BC), during which period more than 400,000 captured Zhao soldiers were buried alive.The battlefield site, about 10 km in width and 30 km in length, is located in the suburbs of the city of Gaoping. The tracks of war wagons and footprints of horses can still be seen on the well-preserved battlefield site, said Li Junjie, deputy head of the battle's research association.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-05/11/c_13870243.htm
- USA – Mitchell - An archaeologist from the South Dakota State Historical Society said Wednesday that a scraping tool also was found in the Mitchell backyard where some centuries-old human bones were unearthed Monday. Michael Fosha, assistant state archaeologist for the society, said the human remains found behind a home on the 600 block of Roselander Road are likely to be at least 700 years old, but further analysis will be required. Fosha said further analysis by a physical anthropologist will likely be done to determine the ethnic origin and age of the bones. The scraping tool found at the site will also be analyzed, but Fosha said there may be no connection between the two items, although other burial sites have contained ceramics or other items that help determine the age and origin of the bones.
http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/52555/group/homepage/
- AUTRICHE – Kühnsdorf - Builders assigned to construct a new railroad in Carinthia found what is believed to be an ancient gravesite. Federal Railways (ÖBB) said today (Fri) four skeletons and funerary objects such as chains and various trinkets were discovered in the town of Kühnsdorf. An archaeologist who was asked to examine the bones and objects described them as "the most important discovery in the region in decades." He added that they may date back to 130 to 50 years before Christ. Only some weeks ago, 16 graves were unearthed at the location of a former Roman city in the Vorarlberg capital of Bregenz. The gravesite is around 1,700 years old, according to experts. They will be preserved and handed over to a local museum to go on display there.
http://austrianindependent.com/news/Lifestyle/2011-05-13/7523/Pre-Christian_gravesite_discovered
- SRI LANKA – Semgamuwa - A quarry at Semgamuwa in Potuvil was closed down by the Department Archaeology. According to the Asst. Director of Archaeology, Ampara District, H A Sumanadasa the reason was that the quarry was located in a archaeological site of historical importance. He said the quarry permit issued in 2007 had been renewed annually. However, when he inspected the quarry recently he found a host of archaeological remains of buildings and also the ruins of a monastery that date back to the 3rd century BC. He said that extensive damage had been caused to many of the archaeological remains.
http://print.dailymirror.lk/news/provincial-news/43918.html
- MALTE –Zejtun - The Roman Villa in Żejtun dating back to the First and Second Century AD will undergo a preservation programme initiated by Din l-Art Ħelwa and the University of Malta with the help of the HSBC Malta Foundation. The preservation programme, which is expected to take two years, will protect the ruins from water infiltration, invasive vegetation, and exposure to the elements. The Roman Villa in Żejtun is only one of four remaining residential or industrial sites in Malta that date to this period. The other three are the Roman Domus in Rabat, San Pawl Milqi and Ta’ Kaċċatura in Birżebbuġa. Important remains at the Villa include original Roman tiles and coloured stucco that show a sophisticated arrangement of domestic and industrial activity for the production of olive oil.
http://www.dive.com/Default.aspx?ID=72&Action=1&NewsId=83251&newscategory=36&cache=false
- ROYAUME-UNI – Stirling Castle - It is a mystery that has baffled generations of historians, but the secrets of King Arthur’s round table could finally be laid bare thanks to modern technology. A circular earthen mound near Stirling Castle has been linked variously to the legendary king, to British aristocrats and to Roman invaders, but its origins remain shrouded in history. Now, for the first time, a team of archaelogists from Glasgow University is preparing to use hi-tech scanners to survey the ground beneath it, providing a clear insight into the mound’s beginnings. The structure, often referred to as the King’s Knot, has long fascinated national historians. Despite the mysteries it may contain, however, it has remained undisturbed for fear of damaging it. The new project, scheduled to run next week, will provide a full geophysical survey of the entire area. People have told stories about the King’s Knot for hundreds of years and it has become linked with all sorts of ideas. But its origins remain mysterious.The area was used as a garden in the 16th and 17th centuries. But when was the present ‘cup and saucer’ mound formed? Perhaps it was as late as the 1620s. But about 1375 the poet John Barbour says that ‘the round table’ was somewhere to the south of Stirling Castle and tradition continued to place ‘the tabilll round’ hereabouts. It is a mystery the documents cannot solve. But geophysics may give us new insights.” This investigation will be the start of a serious effort to explore, explain and interpret them. Is the Knot an ancient feature that Scotland’s monarchs reused, or was it a unique garden design?
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/scots-site-may-hold-the-key-to-arthurian-mystery-1.1101407?localLinksEnabled=false
- CAMBODGE – Wat Thungsawang Damrongtham - Several clay capsule-shaped containers - reportedly used in the ancient times by people for burial of the deceased - were unearthed Saturday near Wat Thungsawang Damrongtham in Roi Et's Kaset Wisai district. Archaeology Office 10 in Roi Et was alerted to investigate after clay capsules - about 60cm wide and 170cm long - were discovered 15cm under the surface about a kilometre south of the Ku Ka Sing ancient site. Archaeologist Pimnara Kitchoteprasert said the capsule-shaped containers were used for a second burial ceremony, which was traditional in the Thing Kula Ronghai ancient community. A large number of these type of containers were unearthed at Wat Prathuim Khongkha in Kaset Wisai years ago. "This kind of burial tradition could date back to about 2,000-2,500 years ago. The people would bury the deceased in the soil and later unearth the bones to clean them, place the bones in the capsule-shaped container and bury it 5-10 metres deep under a mound the second time," she said, adding that the newly-discovered containers might contain adults.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Burial-urns-found-in-Roi-Et-30155423.html
- GRECE – 
Delos - The 'sacred island' of antiquity, Delos, one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece, is scheduled for a series of maintenance and restoration works following the Central Archaeological Council's (KAS) approval of a relevant proposal by the French Archaeology School of Athens, which has a long history of excavations on the island since 1873. Delos was a sacred sanctuary for a millennium before being made the birthplace of the gods Apollo and Artemis in Olympian Greek mythology. In 1990, UNESCO inscribed Delos on the World Heritage List as an "exceptionally extensive and rich" archaeological site that "conveys the image of a great cosmopolitan Mediterranean port".