18 - 19 OCTOBRE 2010

 

 - 19 OCTOBRE :

 - MONGOLIE    Talbor  - Des archéologues russes ont découvert en Mongolie trois sites d'occupation humaine vieux de 12.000 à 40.000 ans. Trois sites d'occupation ont été mis au jour dans la vallée de la rivière Talbor dans le nord de la Mongolie par les membres d'une expédition internationale regroupant des savants russes, mongoles et japonais. Selon les estimations préliminaires, l'âge de ces sites archéologiques est compris entre 12.000 et 40.000 ans. Il est difficile de déterminer l'âge précis de ces trois sites, car ces découvertes sont réparties sur plusieurs couches et contiennent des objets datant d'époques différentes. Cela signifie que ces endroits ont été habités pendant des milliers d'années. Des outils de pierre et des fragments d'ornements en os figurent parmi les trouvailles. Par ailleurs, dans un des sites les archéolgues ont trouvé des coquilles d'œufs d'autruche. Ceci atteste que par le passé, les conditions climatiques et naturelles étaient différentes des conditions actuelles. En outre, les experts ont révélé grâce aux objets trouvés que les habitants de la vallée de la rivière Talbor étaient nomades et chasseurs.

          http://fr.rian.ru/science/20101015/187640847.html

 - GRECE : Vassiliki - Un forage exploratoire pour tenter de retrouver le butin caché du dirigeant ottoman Ali Pacha, dont la valeur est susceptible d'effacer tout ou partie de la dette grecque, a débuté dans les montagnes du centre de la Grèce. Les travaux de forage, sont financés par un chasseur de trésors greco-australien Vangelis Dimas, qui estime le butin potentiel à plusieurs millions d'euros.
"Les capteurs montrent qu'il y a un trésor caché là dessous" a dit M. Dimas à la télévision, devant une lourde foreuse travaillant sur les flancs d'une colline. Au début du 19e siècle, Ali Pacha de Tebelen (1741-1822) était gouverneur de la région de l'Épire pour le compte de l'Empire ottoman, juste avant la révolution qui a mis fin à quatre siècles d'occupation turque en Grèce. Il fut tué en 1822 au cours d'une révolte manquée contre le sultan ottoman, mais le e vaste trésor qu'il avait amassé n'a jamais été retrouvé.

          http://www.lesechos.fr/economie-politique/monde/actu/afp_00289738.htm

 - AZERBAIDJAN : Sakhi / Gakh - A group of archeologists of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences discovered five ancient settlements in the territory of Shaki and Gakh regions of Azerbaijan. The winter settlements discovered in Shaki and Gakh were allegedly founded in the period from 2nd millennium AC until 3rd century AD. Traces of the Gakh settlements were discovered in the territory of a former collective farm. Ceramics and potteries were found there. The archeologists also found ruins of a stone building in one of settlements. A three-hectare settlement was discovered in Hajinohur area of Alazan-Haftaran valley in Shaki. They found ruins of burial mounds which prove that there were mines in that area in the end of the second millennium BC. The archeologist said earlier the plain of Hajinohur was a white page for the Azerbaijani archeology, but materials found there will be very useful for the researchers of the Azerbaijani and regional history.

          http://www.news.az/articles/society/24927

 - ISRAËL    Dead Sea - The Google R&D Center in Israel has partnered with the Israel Antiquities Authority in an effort to make Dead Sea scrolls available online for free. The amazing project aims at creating the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, which will include hi-resolution and multi spectra images of the entire collection — 900 manuscripts that have some 30,000 Dead Sea Scrolls fragments.

         http://www.devicemag.com/2010/10/19/google-to-make-dead-sea-scrolls-available-online-for-free-leon-levy-dead-sea-scrolls-digital-library-comes-to-life-soon/

 - ITALIE :   Levanzo - The remains of a sunken warship recently found in the Mediterranean Sea may confirm the site of a major ancient battle in which Rome trounced Carthage. The year was 241 B.C. and the players were the ascending Roman republic and the declining Carthaginian Empire, which was centered on the northernmost tip of Africa. The two powers were fighting for dominance in the Mediterranean in a series of conflicts called the Punic Wars. Archaeologists think the newly discovered remnants of the warship date from the final battle of the first Punic War, which allowed Rome to expand farther into the Western Mediterranean. The shipwreck was found near the island of Levanzo, west of Sicily, which is where historical documents place the battle. In the summer of 2010, archaeologists discovered a warship's bronze ram — the sharp, prolonged tip of the ship's bow that was used to slam into an enemy vessel. This tactic was heavily used in ancient naval battles and was thought to have played an important role in the Punic fights. The ram is all that's left of the warship; the rest, made of wood, apparently rotted away. The new ram is the third such recent discovery near that site. In 2008, the same team uncovered a beaten-up warship ram with bits of wood still attached, which the scientists were able to carbon-date to around the time of the end of the first Punic War. Another ram that had been pulled out of the water by a fishing boat three years earlier in the same area bore an inscription dating it to the same time period. This third ram, Royal said, is almost identical in shape and size to the one found in 2008. The researchers can't be absolutely sure whether the new ram belonged to a Roman or a Carthaginian ship. The inscription on the first ram was in Latin, establishing that one as Roman. It was decorated with intricate carvings, including rosettes. By comparison, the rams found in 2008 and this year are plain, with no decorations, and rough finger marks still left from when the cast was made.

          http://www.livescience.com/history/ancient-shipwreck-possibly-identify-battle-site-101018.html

 - 18 OCTOBRE :

 - SYRIE    Parisha -  The French archaeological mission at Parisha site in Idleb (northern Syria) discovered on Monday two presses dating back to the Byzantine era. Head of the Archaeology Department Nicolas Kabbad said one of the two presses is dedicated for olive pressing and the second for pressing grapes, adding that both presses are made up of rock basins engraved on rock designed for pressing and refinement, gathering the juice in a circular basin 1.5 m in diameter, with a hole for olive and grapes juice to pass.He added the recent discovery is to be added to a series of archaeological discoveries at the site. The mission has already unearthed 17 olive presses since the outset of its work twenty years ago, adding that efforts are underway to unearth more presses which are an indication of the region's richness in cultivating olives, grapes and many fruitful trees.
Tal Qatana - The Syrian-German-Italian mission wrapped up excavations on Monday at Tal Qatana in Mesherfe in Homs which started late June. ''During excavations this year at the second cemetery at the royal palace, the mission dug up more than 50 artifacts, the most notable is a golden bracelet inlaid with an azure stone shaped after a circular sealing, in addition to 2 golden clamps and a set of bronze clamps,'' Head of the Archaeology and Museums Department in Homs Fareed Jabbour said. He added that a golden lamina with a palm tree painted upon it, a small jar made of crystal and a hippopotamus statue, which dates back to the Pharaohs' era, were also unearthed.

          http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/201010187709/Travel/french-archaeologists-two-presses-dating-back-to-the-byzantine-era-in-syria.html

 - U.S.A. :   Boston - A North End privy sealed for more than a century has yielded thousands of artifacts that are giving archeologists an unprecedented look at how the world’s oldest profession was practiced by improper Bostonians of the 19th century.  From toothbrushes to jewelry to cosmetics, and parts of 19 syringes used for hygiene, the treasure trove plucked from a now-buried site near Haymarket is evidence of a thriving, racy economy that the city’s prim Victorian image never acknowledges. “It’s certainly not what historians and people in charge of the Duck Tours want to be part of what Boston was all about,’’ said Mary Beaudry, a Boston University archeology professor. “We haven’t had a good idea about what it was like to be involved in that trade.’’ But the 3,000 items found during a 1993 archeological survey linked to the Big Dig, behind long-vanished rowhouses on Endicott Street, show the trappings of a busy brothel aimed at middle-class customers. Research into housing records has shown that the property at 27 and 29 Endicott St. probably was used as a brothel for much of the time between 1852 and 1883. In a city where 5,000 prostitutes are estimated to have worked in the last half of the 19th century, the property had plenty of company. Beaudry estimated that the North End, Boston’s red-light district of the time, contained 30 to 40 brothels within its tight, congested confines.

          http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/10/18/north_end_dig_provides_rare_look_into_boston_brothels/

 - PAKISTAN : ISLAMABAD - The remains of more than 2,400-year-old Buddhist era are lying silently in the lap of Margalla Hills on the northwestern side of Islamabad as the murals of Buddha appear on the walls of the caves. At the distance of 15 kilometers from the city's main entrance on western side, the site needs immediate attention of Department of Archeology and Museums as it possesses the relics of Buddhist times.

         http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/culture/2010-10/18/c_13562927.htm

 

 - BULGARIE : Perperikon - Leading Bulgarian archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov has presented the latest finds of his team from the Ancient Thrace and Rome fortress of Perperikon in the Rhodope Mountain. One of the finds is a miniature model of a stone grinder dated back to 7000 years ago. Ovcharov believes the model might have been an actual children's toy. Another unique find is a figure of a Thracian warrior from the 3rd-2nd century BC. The Thracian warrior used to hold a spear. The figure is modeled after the Greek god Apollo, who in the Roman Age "replaced" the cult for the "Thracian Horseman", a local deity, among the Thracians. Ovcharov also showed a surgical instrument from Roman times which was used for plucking parasites out of human bodies. He explained the instrument is the same as the one portrayed on every pharmacy with a serpent wrapped around it or held by the Ancient Greece god of medicine Asclepius. According to the professor, the most interesting find at Perperikon from the Middle Ages period is the 13th century image of a mummer, or "kuker" in Bulgarian. The human-line image features a man with a bear head and a bear skin, which according to Ovcharov, proves that today's kukeri games around Bulgaria – in which humans dress as scary animal creatures to chase away evil ghosts – were inherited from the ancient Dionysus games among the Thracians. Other exciting finds from the four-month summer excavations at Perperikon are a bronze buckle from the 10th century with an image of a griffin, a mythical creature with an eagle's head and a lion's body, and 14th-century Venice coins. A very rare Bulgarian coin picturing Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander and his son Mihail from the Second Bulgarian Empire, minted in 1330-1345, was also shown to the public.

          http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=121245

 - ROYAUME-UNI :   Four Crosses - Roman, Bronze and Iron Age remains have been unearthed at the site of a new bypass in Powys. Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) said a number of interesting finds had been made, but nothing unusual at Four Crosses, near Welshpool. Among the earliest sites found is a ringed ditch representing an early prehistoric burial mound. Roman metalworking and farming activity was also discovered by archaeologists in the village. There were crop marks in the area which denoted burial sites. CPAT's autumn newsletter revealed that archaeologists had uncovered possible Mesolithic activity, Neolithic and Bronze Age burial monuments, Iron Age burials and metalworking, Roman metalworking and farming activity, early medieval burials as well as the better-known monuments such as Offa's Dyke.  Amongst earliest sites is a ring-ditch with a central grave pit representing an early prehistoric burial mound. It said up to a dozen or so similar Neolithic and Bronze Age burial mounds were now known in the immediate area of Four Crosses.

          http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-11564863

 - U.S.A. :   Beaufort - More artifacts from the shipwreck of what's believed to be Blackbeard the pirate's flagship are now on land and WITN got a sneak peek Friday. Underwater archaeologists from the Queen Anne's Revenge's shipwreck project team spoke Friday about their dive season which began in late September and the major artifact exhibit slated to open next year. Newly released artifacts from the Queen Anne's Revenge, which scientists believe was run aground off the Beaufort Inlet in 1718, should be on display next summer in the Carteret County Museum. Items will include part of the sail, porcelain, and a dead-eye which is a rigging element that held up the mast. Archaeologist, David Moore says,"It's been a couple years, because of the economy tanking the way it has across the nation and in fact worldwide over the past couple, three years. So to be able to finally be able to get back out to the site and continue to remove a lot for these elements of the ship remains from harms way is good, is good for everyone." Archaeologists believe the shipwreck site contains around 750,000 artifacts and about 40 percent have been recovered.

           http://www.witn.com/stateregional/headlines/Sneak_105080374.html