25 – 26 AVRIL 2011 NEWS - Sri Lanka - Red Bay - Louxor - La Réunion - - Saint-Lys - Amman - Quang Ngai - Baraboo -
- 25 – 26 AVRIL
- SRI LANKA - Archaeological places in the Northern and Eastern provinces will be listed under the Ministry National Heritage. University of Prince Edward Island in Canada also supports for this project. Accordingly, a discussion between a group of representatives of the University and Minister Jagath Balasuriya was held today. University students from Sri Lanka and Canada who study the subject of archaeology will help to carry out the programme.
- USA – Red Bay - A major controversy is brewing again in Alabama. Bubba Comer, a trucking company owner in Columbus, Mississippi has purchased a 100 acre tract in the town of Red Bay, AL (Franklin County) for the purpose of excavating a gravel quarry. A Native American village containing at least one mound extends into the area of initial excavation. Many Native American artifacts have been found by local residents in the vicinity of the tract. No one knows where Comer plans to dump the soil excavated from the quarry. The Alabama State Historic Preservation Office has requested that an archaeologist study the site. Meanwhile, construction continues on the quarry site without a land disturbance permit or building permit.
- EGYPTE – 
Louxor - A colossal statue of Amenhotep III was uncovered during the Ministry of State for Antiquities’ (MSA) excavation in the area of the funerary temple of King Amenhotep III on the West Bank of Luxor. The mission, led by Dr. Zahi Hawass, unearthed a statue 13 meters tall that consists of seven large quartzite blocks. The statue is one of a pair that once flanked the northern entrance to the temple, Dr. Hawass said, which was damaged by a severe earthquake in 27 BC. The blocks are currently undergoing restoration in an attempt to re-erect the statue in its original position. The head of this statue has not been found yet, but the mission is continuing to excavate and hopes to discover it. The new mission has also discovered two other statues, one depicting the god Thoth as a baboon and one of the lion-headed goddess, Sekhmet. The Sekhmet statue is formed of black granite, 185 cm tall and 74 cm wide. Sekhmet statues have been found in large numbers at this temple, and one theory for this is that Amenhotep III suffered from an illness near the end of his reign and made offerings to this goddess for protection against it.
http://www.drhawass.com/blog/press-release-colossal-statue-amenhotep-iii-found
- LA REUNION - A part un ancien village de l’époque des premiers colons à Sainte-Rose et les batteries de défense à Saint-Paul, les exemples de fouilles archéologiques préventives à La Réunion ne fourmillent pas. Celui qui va entourer les 12 km de long de la future route du littoral est d’ailleurs d’une autre envergure. Il va notamment falloir prospecter les fonds marins le long de la falaise où pas moins d’une trentaine d’épaves reposeraient. On évoque déjà la possibilité d’utiliser, entre autres, des sonars. L’Institut national de recherches archéologiques et le Département des recherches archéologiques subaquatiques et sous-marines seront sur le coup. Les abords de la Grande-Chaloupe sont également concernés par la prospection. Certains vestiges laissés par le passage de milliers d’engagés pourraient se cacher dans la zone. Enfin, les spécialistes devraient également fouiller l’ancienne redoute de la Possession. La littérature y révèle l’existence d’un cimetière d’esclaves. Une première étude documentaire devrait être lancée dès cette année, les fouilles de terrain devraient suivre en 2012. Nicolas Morbé souligne : « Nous souhaitons lancer cette phase très en amont pour reconnaître ce qu’il y a à repérer afin d’éviter de retarder le démarrage du chantier ».
http://www.clicanoo.re/11-actualites/15-societe/281767-un-chantier-d-archeologie.html
- FRANCE - Saint-Lys - Le premier Saint-Lysien aurait entre 100 000 et 200 000 ans ! Voici l'enseignement majeur tiré des sondages archéologiques préventifs réalisés au lieu-dit « la Grange », à côté du collège Léo-Ferré à Saint-Lys. La dénomination de ce lieu-dit provient de la Grange d'Eaubelle qui fut, à partir du XIIe siècle, le centre des vastes terres que les religieux cisterciens de l'abbaye de Gimont, dans le Gers, possédaient à Saint-Lys. Le propriétaire actuel de ce terrain souhaite y implanter un lotissement. La commune a sollicité l'Inrap pour savoir si des traces d'occupations humaines subsistaient et éviter ainsi la destruction potentielle de vestiges antérieurs à la fondation de la bastide au XIIIe siècle. Pour ces sondages, qui ont eu lieu les 18, 19 et 20 avril dernier, une trentaine de tranchées ont été réalisées à la pelle mécanique sur 7 % de la surface de l'aménageur. Le responsable des opérations, l'archéologue Éric Tranier, accompagné de Christian Salmon, préhistorien de l'Inrap, a fait parler la terre saint-lysienne : « Nous avons trouvé de gros galets travaillés du paléolithique inférieur ainsi que les restes de plusieurs fossés avec des briques qui doivent figurer dans le cadastre napoléonien. Une poterie du XVIe siècle a aussi été découverte. Une histoire rurale se dessine. Toutes nos données liées aux couches sédimentaires contribueront aux recherches scientifiques et à la carte géologique ». Le rapport de diagnostic de l'Inrap sera remis au plus tard le 2 septembre au préfet de région qui en donnera connaissance à l'aménageur du lotissement et qui, selon les cas, délivrera alors l'autorisation de travaux, ou bien prescrira des fouilles si besoin, ou stipulera des modifications pour le projet d'aménagement. En tout cas, les archéologues sont repartis avec ces « trésors d'humanité » qu'ils vont étudier sous toutes les coutures. À suivre !
- JORDANIE – Amman - Jordan's archaeology chief says security police have recovered seven ancient manuscripts from local smugglers. The writings are part of 70 manuscripts that Jordanian archaeologists discovered five years ago in a cave in the north. Later, they were stolen and most were believed to have been smuggled into Israel. Jordan has demanded Israel return the manuscripts but has gotten no response. Ziad al-Saad says the manuscripts were reportedly found by a Bedouin. He says the relics could be among the earliest Christian writings in existence but tests are under way to date them and check their authenticity.
- VIET-NAM – 
Quang Ngai - Deep in the remote jungles of central Vietnam, archaeologists have discovered what has been labeled as Southeast Asia’s “longest monument” – a solid stone wall stretching an astonishing 127.4 km, through pristine rain forest and remote hill tribe villages, all completely unspoiled- Vietnam’s most exciting archaeological discovery in a century was announced earlier this year by Dr Nguyen Tien Dong, of the country’s Institute of Archaeology, together with Dr. Andrew Harvey of the École française d’Extrême-Orient. The rampart, which winds its way across forbidding countryside from Qang Ngai province in the north, all the way to Binh Dinh in the south of the country, has generated huge excitement and is said to be the greatest engineering feat of the once-forgotten Nguyen dynasty, the last emperors of Vietnam.
http://www.argophilia.com/news/the-long-wall-of-quang-ngai/22036/
- USA – Baraboo - Shards of pottery, spear tips and arrow points thousands of years old told stories of the lives of early Wisconsinites - Rob Nurre told people about the Man Mound, a thousand-year-old, human-shaped effigy mound about 3 miles east of Baraboo on Man Mound Road. It was identified in 1859 by famed surveyor William Canfield and eventually preserved in what is now Man Mound County Park. "The Man Mound is about 214 feet from head to toe," Nurre said. "At its widest at the hands it's about 60 feet wide." Speculation about what the Man Mound might represent include a person wearing a bear or buffalo headdress or an image of a water spirit found in Ho-Chunk Nation stories recorded early in the 1900s, he said. "It came up out of the lake, took the form of a human with horns and walked," Nurre said. The fact people who were hunters, gatherers and beginning farmers used their time and energy to create the Man Mound demonstrates they had the same need to create monuments as modern Americans display when they create magnificent churches, Nurre said.