23 DECEMBRE 2016 NEWS: Little Carlton - Erimi - Jeminay -
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ROYAUME UNI – 
Little Carlton - Archaeologists believe they have found the remains of an Anglo-Saxon saint or king in Lincolnshire, who was burried face down with his knees twisted around 180 degrees. The site was discovered by metal detectorist Graham Vickers when he uncovered an 8th Century silver writing stylus in a field at Little Carlton, near Louth, in 2011. A team from the University of Sheffield then moved onto the site in March and discovered it used to be a high-status island settlement, trading post or early monastery around 1,500 years ago. They returned this summer when their most exciting find was the remains of a saint or king who was burried in an unusual fashion. Dr Hugh Willmott, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Archaeology, said: "What makes this a really interesting burial is the fact that they have been buried on their front. "But there's something else that really makes it special. You see how narrow it is in the grave. "It's about 25cm between the shoulders, it's really crammed together." Prof Roberts described the burial as "bizarre" for a Christian person. She said: "What we can say for definite is it was buried after the body had started to decompose."The limbs have started to fall away from the rest of the body but great care has been made to try to put the body back." Dr Willmott said: "A great deal of care has been taken in this burial. So this could be an individual who perhaps has died away from the site and been brought here to be interred here specially."Prof Roberts said: "There are stories of the bodies of kings being moved." Dr Willmott adds: "And of course saints and holy people. So there could be something like that going on here, which suggests Little Carlton was a place of great importance." The skeleton was the first of a number of intriguing and rare finds which include writing implements, around 300 dress pins, and a huge number of 'Sceattas', coins from the 7th-8th centuries, a small lead tablet bearing the faint but legible letters spelling 'Cudberg', a female Anglo-Saxon name, and glassware that indicated trade with mainland Europe.An iron manacle - a unique find on British soil - was also discovered which possibly indicates either a slave trade operated at the site in the early medieval period or slaves were kept by whoever occupied it. And a pair of tweezers that could have been used by Christian monks to turn the pages of religious manuscripts were also uncovered. It is believed the site, which today is surrounded completely dry land, was actually surrounded by water and was most likely the site of a monastery or trading post in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey. The settlement had an industry of woven textiles which were exported along rivers into the North Sea to northern Europe, while pottery from Germany and wine from the Continent were imported. The site is believed to have been abandoned when the Vikings began raiding England towards the end of the 8th century and there was no trace if it ever being there by the time of the Domesday Book after the Norman Conquest.
CHYPRE – 
Erimi - A dig in Cyprus by the Italian Archaeological Mission at Erimi has wrapped up for this year at the high plateau on the eastern Kouris river bank. The area was occupied during two the Middle Bronze Age period, but appears to have been hardly used during the late-Hellenistic and Roman periods, following a long period of abandonment. The focus was to investigate two areas, which differ in their use and function: the domestic area, located on the lower terrace and the southern cemetery. Investigations also revealed a massive wall structure that seems to limit the settlement to the West, following the natural edge of the terrace. The wall is 1,60-1,70 m. wide and a carving within the bedrock, measuring 0,60 m. in depth was made in order to create the foundation of the structure. The carving was then filled with rubble and large stone blocks with plaster mortar. This wall seems to have been a sort of circuit wall and can be presumably ascribed to Phase A of the occupation of the settlement during the end of the Middle Bronze Age. The cemetery area extends over a series of terraces sloping towards the South-East of the settlement. The funerary cluster is characterized by a series of rock-cut pit and chamber tombs, dated back to the same chronological horizon of the settlement. Two additional graves have been excavated during this season, of special interest as to their architecture and associated burial rituals. One of the tombs - a large underground chamber, with two entrances and a large stomion (entrance) block - was partially looted, but the remaining burial deposit revealed numerous bronze objects. These objects were presumably related to the clothes the dead were buried in and to the funerary shroud. An additional terracotta plaque was also found as part of the offering deposit.
http://famagusta-gazette.com/cyprus-archaeological-dig-wraps-up-team-discover-looted-tombs-p37809-69.htm
CHINE - Jeminay - Archeologists in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have identified a cluster of caves on a paleolithic site, the first ever found in the region. The ruins in Jeminay County date back at least 40,000 years, and workers excavated them from July to September, said Yu Jianjun, researcher with the regional institute of cultural relics and archaeology, on Sunday. More than 400 objects, including stoneware, pottery and bronze, as well as animal fossils, were unearthed. The findings spanned the Old Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age, Yu said. The stone objects resemble Mousterian style, a culture distinguished by its wide range of stone tools, and often associated with Neanderthals from the middle period of the Old Stone Age in Europe, Central and West Asia, and North Africa. Excavation of the ruins will continue in 2017 and 2018.