26 MAI 2016 NEWS: Angleterre - Badalpur - Samoa - Veliko Tarnovo -Yorkley -

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ROYAUME UNI1464187823002 Angleterre - A professor in the United Kingdom has used a creative way to measure the dramatic, dark legacy of the Black Death in England: analyzing old pottery shards. The plague claimed millions of lives in the 14th century. Fast forward to the 21st century, and in eastern England, over 2000 test pits excavated in six different counties revealed their contents. What the researchers discovered hints at the disastrous decline that those populations suffered at the hands of the plague. After analyzing the results, the researchers found a significant decline in pottery shards: a 45 percent decrease from the time period before the plague to after it. “This new research offers a novel solution to that evidential challenge, using finds of pottery – a highly durable indicator of human presence - as a proxy for population change in a manner that is both scalable and replicable,” Lewis said in a statement. “It shows that pottery use fell by almost a half in eastern England in the centuries immediately after the Black Death. This supports the emerging consensus that the population of England remained somewhere between 35 and 55 per cent below its pre-Black Death level well into the sixteenth century.”

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/05/25/pottery-unearthed-in-england-hints-at-black-deaths-devastation.html?

PAKISTAN - 5677082acf595  Badalpur  - The recent archeological excavations at the Buddhist monastery of Badalpur located on the Silk Road, which is connecting China and Gilgit Baltistan, by Taxila Institute of Asian Civilization (TIAC) unearthed the unique discoveries of stupas, coins and grinding stones and other glimpses of Buddhist civilization. The monastery is rectangular in plan and measuring 22/22 meters with monks cells and a water tank in the centre, he said. The monastery is made up with lime stone and built up in semi-ashlar and semi-dipper style with mud motor in site and kanjor stone has been used in molding. Dr. Ashraf told that the site has an imposing rectangular main stupa on the west which measures 71 meters by 60 meters.The dome of the stupa is missing but its drum is added to the base which is about six meters high. Two offering stupas were built in front of the main stupa. The stupa courtyard comprises of Chapple images of different sizes. The discovery of coins is the out-standing features amongst the antiquities found during the recent excavations at the Buddhist site of the Badalpur. Besides coins a large number of pottery, bones, and grinding stones have been found from this site. These coins represent the major era of great ‘Kushan’. The site of Badalpur was first mentioned by sir Alexander Cunningham, the then Director General of Archeological survey in India in 1863-64. 
http://pakobserver.net/2016/05/25/new-discoveries-of-buddhist-civilisation/?

SAMOA - A database of Samoa's significant archaeological and heritage sites as well as their associated histories and oral traditions is being compiled for the first time. The archaeological and cultural history will be revisited by local archaeologists and historians from the National University Centre for Samoan studies for the purpose of documenting, conserving and preserving cultural heritage. 25 sites have been allocated for the project in which a team of archaeologists and lecturers from the National University will be working on for two years.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/304721/samoa-gets-us-funding-to-compile-archaeological-and-heritage-database?

BULGARIEHoly 40 martyrs church Veliko Tarnovo - Previously unkown mural portraits of Tsar Ivan Asen II (r 1218-1241), one of his wifes, and three other medieval Bulgarian rulers from the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1396) have been identified in the most comprehensive study to date of the frescoes of the churches and monasteries of medieval Tarnovgrad (today’s Veliko Tarnovo). Tarnovgrad was the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire throughout almost its entire existence (1185-1393), until it was destroyed by the invading Ottoman Turks at the end of the 14th century. Today one of its two main citadels, the Tsarevets Fortress, is the most visited cultural tourism site in Bulgaria, while the other, the Trapesitsa Fortress, is still being excavated and is under partial archaeological restoration. The church in question was built by Ivan Asen II to honor his victory over the Despotate of Epirus, a successor state of theByzantine Empire, in the Battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230 AD. It also contains a column with a detailed inscription by the Bulgarian Tsar narrating the events from his war with Epirus. The mural portraits have been idenfied from fragraments of frescoes discovered in the northern yard of the Holy Forty Martyrs Church.

http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/2016/05/22/mural-portrairs-of-tsars-from-second-bulgarian-empire-identified-in-largest-study-of-frescoes-from-medieval-capital-tarnovgrad-veliko-tarnovo/

ROYAUME UNIDig web Yorkley - Two archaeological digs in Yorkley have uncovered more questions than answers. The team of archaeologists and volunteers started a ‘dig’ near Yorkley on the site of what they hoped would prove to be the remains of a Roman fort. In the end, the artefacts they unearthed point to the mediaeval period rather than Roman, with what looks like early ironworks on the site. Another site near Yorkley on the remains of the lost village of Tomlin, proved more promising as they discovered the remains of both residential and agricultural buildings.

http://www.theforester.co.uk/article.cfm?id=101494&headline=Archaeologists%20dig%20for%20lost%20village%20in%20Yorkley&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2016