31 JANVIER 2013 NEWS: Edinburgh - Christchurch - Koroni - Lumbini - Tombouctou - Pirée -
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ROYAUME UNI – 
Edinburgh - Archaeologists have uncovered a slice of Georgian history on the former site of the Royal Infirmary hospital. Pottery, bits of bottle, coins and buttons from the 18th century were found by workers at what is now Edinburgh University’s High School Yards. A dig took place after contractors drafted in to lay utilities uncovered a series of outer walls from the old royal’s Surgical Hospital, which was built on the site in 1738. Among the highlights was a sixpenny piece dating from 1816 and the reign of George IV. A new carbon innovation research centre will be built once the city council’s archaeology department has fully investigated the grounds. High School Yards was once the site of Blackfriars Monastery, which was founded in 1230 by King Alexander II. The monastery and church were destroyed in 1558 by a mob, who were followers of John Knox’s reformation. Stone from the ruined buildings was quickly reused for other buildings.
NOUVELLE ZELANDE – 
Christchurch - Archaeologists are running out of space to store thousands of items unearthed in earthquake-hit central Christchurch. One archaeological firm has already filled a 12-metre-long shipping container with tens of thousands of artefacts. The same company recently found hundreds of artefacts under the Isaac Theatre Royal. That haul includes bottles and ceramic shards, along with earthenware crucibles used by gold prospectors to separate metals. Finds elsewhere in the city include an old rollerskate, Maori artefacts from before European settlement, gold prospector equipment, shards of ceramic plates and thousands of drink bottles. Archaeologists have to be called in on any work within the four avenues that may disturb the ground, as well as for work on some pre-1900 residential sites. Kirsa Webb, of Underground Overground Archaeology, said the firm had filled about 200 boxes with its finds, which filled a large shipping container. "We don't know what we're going to do with them." The Theatre Royal site used to be a domestic rubbish pit, dating back to about the 1870s, Webb said. "The most amazing thing we found were the crucibles. That was quite odd. We don't know why they were there," she said. "We didn't expect to find anything. Looking at old maps of the area from 1877, there were very few houses on that block." Webb said they had found thousands of artefacts beneath the Occidental Hotel in Hereford St and the Oxford on Avon Hotel in Colombo St, including bottles.
VIDEO = http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8243641/Recovering-the-city-below-the-one-we-ve-lost
GRECE – 
Koroni - Last week’s bad weather and big waves have caused damages to the Venetian Castle of Koroni. Namely, last Saturday at the “Tambakario” area, part of the bastion came loose and collapsed. The deputy Minister of Education, Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports will visit the Koroni Castle on Friday together with a group of the Ministry’s engineers, in order to examine closely all problems created. Having suffered similar damages in the past years, the area’s emblematic castle necessitates conservation. This is what Syriza deputy in Messenia Thanasis Petrakos has pointed out, while insisting on the need of “immediate action and total interventions offering protection to the Koroni Castle”.
http://www.archaiologia.gr/en/blog/2013/01/31/bad-weather-causes-damage-to-the-koroni-castle/
NEPAL – 
Lumbini - Evidence found in Lumbini region has shown that human activities had taken place there some 1,300 years before christ or BC, state-owned news agency RSS reported. This was revealed in the first phase of a study/research report made public at a programme organized in the capital on Wednesday, based on a three-year research carried out jointly by the Department and the Durham University of Britain. On the occasion, the archaeological excavation team leader and Vice-chancellor of the University Rabin Kaningham said wooden structures of the sixth century BC were discovered at the Mayadevi Temple and Monastic complex. Excavation has been carried out in the Lumbinigram, Mayadevi temple, and the Ashok Pillar since 2011 with financial support of the Japanese Funds in-Trust (JFIT). Research so far had found traces of human settlements of around 800 BC. Speaking at the programme, Director General of Department of Archaeology Bhesh Narayan Dahal said the final report of the three-year long archaeological study and research would be made public following a lab test of the material evidence.
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2013/jan/jan31/news02.php
MALI – 
Tombouctou - In contrast to horrific reports from Timbuktu earlier this week, an important library of medieval texts is still standing, and many manuscripts are thought to have survived the hasty retreat of Islamic militants, researchers and journalists say. Recent news from the city had sounded very bad for Africa's cultural heritage: Islamic fundamentalists, who fled as French and Malian troops retook this city in northern Mali after 9 months of occupation, had reportedly burned down the library of Timbuktu's Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research—one of the continent's most important archives. The building, opened in 2009, is one of two facilities in Timbuktu run by the institute. Media reports suggested that thousands of medieval manuscripts had been turned into ashes. Today, the picture looks considerably brighter, even as archaeologists and historians around the world scramble to get a better idea of what really happened. The library building is still standing, according to reports from journalists and researchers within the country, and many manuscripts either weren't burnt in the first place or were hidden away by archivists who had earlier fled to Mali's capital, Bamako.
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2013/01/timbuktu-manuscripts-apparently-.html?rss=1
GRECE – 
Pirée - The Board of Trustees of the Piraeus Port Authority has decided to fund the archaeological excavations along the ancient Cononian Walls in front of the new Cruise Passenger Terminal, after an agreement with the Ministry of Culture. The excavations will be conducted at the part between Palataki and the new Passenger Terminal, which has never been examined in the past by archaeologists. The project will cost 100,000 €. By revealing the rest of the Cononian Walls, the 26th Ephorate of Prehistorci and Classical Antiquities will complete its work in the area. At a recent meeting between the General Secretary of Culture Lina Mendoni, the managing director of Piraeus Port Authority Giorgos Anomeritis, the representatives of the Technical Services and the 26th EPCA, it was decided that the above mentioned part of the Cononian Walls should remain open to the public and be partly covered with reinforced glass. As Mr. Anomeritis stated: “Piraeus is not only a big cruise port, it is also a port which presents its 2,500-year-old history and its contribution to the development of Athens, Greece and Europe”. He also added that the ancient walls will be a very good way of welcoming cruise passengers to our land, by showing them a part of the port’s ancient history. This project along with the masterplan of the “Cultural Coast of Piraeus” will transform the port into a “portal” of tourism and culture, as Mr. Anomeritis said.