21 AVRIL 2011 NEWS - Rome - Xi'an - Hinchinbrook Island - Cheshire - Bamburgh -
- 21 AVRIL
- ITALIE – 
Rome - Rome’s birthday is celebrated on April 21, commemorating the date of Rome’s founding in 753BC. Rome will hold several festivals, concerts, and special events this weekend and on April 21. Historical societies put on gladiator displays and performances in and around the forum area. There’s usually a spectacular fireworks display by the Tiber River. According to legend, the twin brothers Romulus and Remus were the founders of Rome. Following the murder of Remus, Romulus became the first king of Rome. The traditional date of Romulus’ sole reign and the founding of Rome is April 21, 753 BC. The foundation of Rome was explained by the Romans themselves in mythological tales. The first of these tales, the tale of Romulus and Remus, was a popular legend in the day and it is the more well known of the two foundation myths for Rome, exploring twins Romulus and Remus who founded Rome. The lesser known myth of the foundation of Rome is the story of Aeneas, a Trojan warrior who was supposedly the son of the goddess Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. In this tale, Aeneas was the lone survivor of the Trojan War, where Greek sacked Troy, and he left the city after its slaughter. It was only when he came to the Italian peninsula and founded Rome, or more specifically, perhaps, the people that would found Rome. What ever the true origins were, mythological or otherwise, Rome is thought to have been settled as early as 1500 BC. Rome was founded on the Tiber River, giving it better access from the coast to the interior of the peninsula. The city of Rome was founded on hill ground, allowing for it to be more easily defended from attackers. Rome was not founded as a city, but instead as a number of small villages. Eventually these small villages came together to form a whole Roman community. Grave sites and early domesticated vegetation puts the permanent settlement of Rome, or the villages that would come to form Rome, anywhere from 1500 to 1000 BC.
http://romanarcheo.blogspot.com/
- CHINE – Xi’an - Recently, the Zhang Anshi mausoleum complex has been found in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. After a ten-day excavation, archeologists are now starting to transfer the exposed relics from the tombs to labs for further examination. Several funerary pieces, dating back more than 2-thousand years, have been unearthed from one of the tombs, known as M1. It's very difficult to keep the buried items the way they were once they've been unearthed, according to experts. Archeologists from around China have been collaborating to work out the best way to transfer the relics.
http://www.kaogu.cn/en/detail.asp?ProductID=2786
- AUSTRALIE – 
Hinchinbrook Island - The remnants of a 30-metre longboat have been unearthed at a beach on Hinchinbrook Island after Cyclone Yasi battered the state in February. It is believed the wrecked vessel has been buried deep below the sand for more than 130 years. Queensland government shipwreck expert Paddy Waterson said Cyclone Yasi had removed about 30 metres of sand from Ramsay Bay on Hinchinbrook Island exposing the top "two or three inches" of the old ship. The wreck was discovered in late February by Ingham fisherman Phil Lowry. Shipwreck experts in London and Melbourne have been contacted for advice on timber samples in a bid to narrow down which vessel has been discovered. Three ships were wrecked in Ramsay Bay while trying to recover a load of cedar washed ashore from a ship called The Merchant, which was destroyed during a cyclone in March, 1878. Unfortunately all three were lost in poor weather: the Harriet Armytage in 1879, the Charlotte Andrews in 1879 and the Belle in 1880. Locals suspect the wreck might be the smaller of the three ships, the brigantine, Belle-
- ROYAUME-UNI - 
Cheshire - Archaeologists working on a ruined Tameside castle have concluded it was built to prevent parts of England coming under Scottish rule. Buckton Castle in Stalybridge by the Earl of Chester was built in the 1100s. It was occupied for less than 100 years during a time when the King of Scotland lay claim to Lancashire and Cumberland. The university's Centre for Applied Archaeology conducted a three-year dig at the castle and have now concluded it was started to offer protection from Scottish expansion, though a change in political circumstances meant it was never finished. It was built by Ranulf II, the fourth Earl of Chester, during the mid-12th Century period known as "the Anarchy", when King Stephen and Queen Matilda disputed the English crown. Ranulf found himself in conflict with King David of Scotland, who had been granted Lancashire and Cumberland by Stephen, lands which the Earl also laid claim to. The boundary of the disputed lands ran close to the Mersey across historic north Cheshire and the archaeologists said the castle was started with this in mind, as its position overlooks both the river and the northern approaches to the area. The castle building was later abandoned, as Ranulf obtained Lancashire up to the Ribble, moving his land's border 60 miles north. The team had found limited pottery from the 12th and 13th Centuries and discovered that the walls and gatehouse were deliberately piled into the castle's surrounding ditch to destroy its fortifications.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-13161616
- ROYAUME-UNI – 
Bamburgh - An archaeological research team in Northumberland has unearthed a medieval hall underneath Bamburgh Castle. Bamburgh Castle Research Project dug up a small trench under the inner courtyard at the core of the castle and discovered an Anglo-Saxon hall. The team believes that the discovery probably dates back to medieval times. From the small trench, the teams discovered a posthole sealed over by a mortar spread right in the main bedrock of the castle. They believe it is a medieval floor surface and the posthole underneath could date back even earlier than medieval times.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-13155418