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BULGARIE – Ulpia Augusta Traiana - A Roman mansion dated to the third or fourth century A.D. has been found in eastern Bulgaria, about 18 miles from the ancient Roman city of Ulpia Augusta Traiana. Archaeologists led by Mariya Kamisheva of the Stara Zagora Regional Museum of History unearthed a bath with a well-preserved pool, and three of the house’s rooms, which covered more than 1,000 square feet, during rescue excavations after a looter’s tunnel was found at the site. The villa also had underfloor heating, and murals on its walls. Two Roman coins from the site date to the beginning of the fourth century A.D. The team also recovered a Turkish coin from the Ottoman period. Kamisheva thinks the house may have been partly destroyed at that time. The excavations will continue this year.
http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/2018/05/09/archaeologists-find-rich-roman-mansion-near-bulgarias-gurkovo-close-to-ancient-city-augusta-traiana-in-stara-zagora/
ITALIE – Pompéi - The Naples Archaeological Museum, MANN, presented findings on Wednesday from examinations of 150 artifacts of various fibers and fiber arts from the Roman imperial period, found mostly at the Pompeii archaeological site and the area buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. It presented the findings at the biennial Art and Restoration Fair in Florence. Some of the objects presented included a wooden spool with silk thread, threads made of gold, a handbag, a bow, and samples of textiles such as linen, wool, and hemp, all of which revealed the feminine side of the ancient world. "The exhibition is supported by a scientific research project that, thanks to technology, will examine the composition of the fibres and how they were worked, including with the goal of determining the most appropriate conservation methods," he said. Other objects shown at the presentation included a cloth woven with asbestos that came from the 4th-century necropolis in Vasto, as well as asbestos threads and a fabric knitted with silk that radiocarbon dating placed between the 15th and 16th centuries. Technology used to examine the fibres includes X-ray spectroscopy on electron microscopes and atomic force microscopy in order to analyse the nature and morphology of the samples. The technology revealed, among other things, that the thick fibres of the bow were made from pine needles, and that the silk from the wooden spool was wild silk produced by silkworm moths."With the students we are creating an informational database on personal and decorative textiles based on examinations of our frescoes," said Luigia Melillo, head archaeologist at MANN's restoration office.
http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2018/05/16/ancient-pompeii-textiles-previewed-ahead-of-2019-show_a5a205e4-ef6f-40a8-a0bc-50b0ee2a0401.html
INDONESIE – Java sea - An 800-year-old piece of pottery has helped archaeologists put together fascinating new details about a medieval ship that sank off the coast of Indonesia. The wooden hull of the ship, which sank in the Java Sea, has long since disintegrated, but its cargo offers vital clues about the vessel. Fishermen discovered the wreck site in the 1980s and archaeologists have spent decades analyzing objects found on the seabed. The ship, which was transporting ceramics and luxury goods, is now revealing its secrets thanks to new analysis of the cargo. Experts published their findings in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. “Initial investigations in the 1990s dated the shipwreck to the mid- to late 13th century, but we’ve found evidence that it’s probably a century older than that,” said Lisa Niziolek, an archaeologist at the Field Museum in Chicago and the study’s lead author, in a statement.“Eight hundred years ago, someone put a label on these ceramics that essentially says ‘Made in China’ — because of the particular place mentioned, we’re able to date this shipwreck better.” The ship’s cargo included ceramics marked with an inscription that may indicate they are from Jianning Fu, a district in China. Experts, however, note that after Mongol invasion of China around 1278, the area was reclassified as Jianning Lu. “The slight change in the name tipped Niziolek and her colleagues off that the shipwreck may have occurred earlier than the late 1200s, as early as 1162,” they said, in the statement. The likelihood of a ship from the Jianning Lu era carrying old pottery is slim, according to Niziolek. “There were probably about 100,000 pieces of ceramics onboard. It seems unlikely a merchant would have paid to store those for long prior to shipment — they were probably made not long before the ship sank,” she explained. In addition to ceramics, the ship was also carrying elephant tusks, possibly for use in medicine or art. Sweet-smelling resin, which could have been used for incense or for caulking ships, was also found. Dating the shipwreck to 800, rather than 700 years ago is significant, according to the archaeologist. “This was a time when Chinese merchants became more active in maritime trade, more reliant upon oversea routes than on the overland Silk Road,” she said. “The shipwreck occurred at a time of important transition.”
VIDEO = http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/05/16/shipwreck-mystery-solved-thanks-to-800-year-old-made-in-china-label.html
GROENLAND - Atmospheric pollution is an expedient tool for researching history, as it’s helping to shed some light on ancient Rome and Greece. By studying the ice core of the Arctic an international team may be able track the rise and decline of these civilizations. An international multi-discipline research group has analyzed lead, captured in Greenland’s ice sheets and found out that its quantity correlates to the development of Greek and Roman civilizations. The emissions from mining and smelting lead used to produce silver for currency as well as Roman water pipes, were captured in ice cores between 1100 BC, which coincides with the late Iron Age, to AD 800, when the early Middle Ages began. Lead particles with dust from Europe supposedly drifted over 4,600 km (2,858 mi) to the Arctic. The lead author Joe McConnell, Ph.D., Research Professor of Hydrology at the Desert Research Institute (DRI) states "We found that lead pollution in Greenland very closely tracked known plagues, wars, social unrest and imperial expansions during European antiquity." For closer and more complete insight, the team studied over 21,000 chemical measurements from the ice cores, then looked into links between pollution rates and major events of the Roman and Greek civilizations, their overall economic activity. According to the study’s findings, lead emissions rose and fell during political instability and wars. A dramatic decrease in lead was found in ice cores that dated back to the time of the plague in Rome. This differs from the results of earlier studies, which are reported to be based on fewer measurements. The study has dissolved a theory that the sparse Greenland lead proved that the Roman Republic had better economic performance than the Roman Empire. Lead, contaminating air, water, food, can cause poisoning with a wide range of symptoms. It can result in abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, irritability, memory problems, inability to have children, intellectual disability and behavioral problems and even lead to coma and death.
https://sputniknews.com/science/201805161064503737-greenland-ice-study-history-civilizations/