18 SEPTEMBRE 2018: Hjarnø - Harput - Al-Kharj - Arctic Archipelagoes -

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DANEMARK –  Hjarnø - In 2017, Terese Refsgaard was out with her metal detector in a field on the island of Hjarnø in Horsens Fjord and struck lucky. In all, more than 32 pearls and pieces of gold have been found and the items are more than 1,500 years old, reports Politiken. As well as the pearls, the items include pendants, a gold pin and pieces of gold cut up and used as currency. Mads Ravn from Vejle Museum estimates that the gold dates back to the period just before the Viking era, so it was probably buried in around 500 AD. The find suggests that Hjarnø has had contact with the Roman Empire. “They’ve probably been down there on a mission to plunder, so our little find is a reminder of a turbulent period in world history when gold spoke its own, very clear language,” said Ravn. There has been speculation that the hoard could have been buried as an offering to appease the gods in order to head off a possible Armageddon. In 536 a violent volcanic eruption took place in El Salvador, resulting in a plume of ash that spread across a large area of the world. “It is tempting to conclude that the poor souls who experienced the ash cloud and the rapid climate change that came with it were desperately trying to avoid chaos, so the gold might have been an expensive offering to appease the gods that punish us,” said Ravn.

http://cphpost.dk/news/theres-gold-in-them-thar-hills-or-at-least-on-hjarno-island.html

TURQUIE –  Harput - A team of archaeologists have unearthed outdoor altar area in eastern Turkey from the Urartu period. The open-air altar area dating back 2,700 years was discovered during an excavation in the ancient city of Harput in the province of Elazig. "For the last five years, we have done excavation work in an area of 4,500 square meters," Harput Castle excavation team head Ismail Aytac told Anadolu Agency on Monday. Aytac said that the presence of the altar reveals that Harput was an important city governing the region as well as a cult center. Harput was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2018. "Based on excavations and researches made in and around Harput, the first settlement goes down to Paleolithic Age. Harput Castle was also built during the Urartian period," according to UNESCO official website.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/sports/ancient-outdoor-altar-unveiled-in-eastern-turkey/1256834

ARABIE SAOUDITE - Al-Kharj - A joint Saudi-French mission to explore archaeological sites within Saudi international missions being supervised by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage has revealed sites dating back to about 100,000 years in a number of mountains, south of Riyadh, specifically in Governorate of Al-Kharj. The field survey of the mission included the mountains surrounding Al-Kharj Mountains overlooking Wadi Nisah, part of the mountains overlooking the Mawan valley, Ein Farzane and the mountains overlooking the town of Al-Shadidah. The sites are dating back to the Paleolithic period about 100,000 years. It is the first time that sites from the Paleolithic period were discovered in Al-Kharj Governorate, as well as sites dating back to the Upper Paleolithic period.

https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1814594

RUSSIE - Arctic Archipelagoes - Arctic Archipelagoes expedition, which worked along the Franz Josef Land Archipelago, confirmed the earlier found ship was the Eira yacht, on board of with English explorers had discovered the archipelago’s most islands. According to an archaeologist Mark Stepanov, the ship’s remains were found a year earlier, and during the recent expedition experts managed to identify the finding. "The result of the studies is that we can confirm 100% it is the Eira," he said. The depth was 18-20 meters, the water temperature between 0 and minus 1. It took the divers six months to get prepared for the mission.Noteworthy, historical sources said the ship did not wear its name on the side, nor it had a bell, which usually has the vessel’s name on it. Ceramic fragments helped to identify the ship. One of them had an inscription "London," and a bottle fragment had a name of rum producer from the city, where the ship had been made - Peterhead. The divers took sizes and noted specific features of the ship’s structure and decoration. All those features confirmed the ship’s origin.The Eira twice came to Franz Josef Land - in 1880 and in 1881. The expedition’s participants were among the pioneers, who discovered the archipelago. They gave names to most islands in the archipelago’s southern part. In 1881, the ship was nipped by the ice. Luckily, all the crew survived the winter on the archipelago and next year they reached the mainland on boats.
http://tass.com/economy/1021851