01 AOUT 2018: Quebec - Tel Tsaf - Edinburgh - Evia - Gedera - Olbia - Ganj Dareh -
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CANADA – 
Quebec - More than 50,000 artifacts dating back over more than three centuries have been uncovered on the grounds of a Catholic church just west of Quebec City, according to a CBCreport. Members of the Huron-Wendat First Nation lived in the area along with Jesuit priests for several decades in the late seventeenth century, said lead archaeologist Stéphane Noël. Later, in the winter of 1759, the French were forced to leave the site to make room for the British army. Among the finds is a large collection of stone pipes, which show that the Huron-Wendat continued to carve their own even though they had access to European goods. Archaeologists have also unearthed evidence that the Huron-Wendat were using European gunflints as scrapers and drills, and that the First Nation peoples were connected to an extensive trade network. Among the remains of the 300 years of French occupation of the area is a nearly intact icehouse that would have been packed with snow to keep food from spoiling. A cannonball associated with the British army’s brief occupation of the area was found as well.
JORDANIE – 
Tel Tsaf - A team led by University of Haifa archaeologist Danny Rosenberg has unearthed new evidence for the transition to agriculture at the village site of Tel Tsaf in the Jordan Valley around 7,500 years ago. Excavations at levels dating to this period have yielded evidence of agriculture in the form of the remains of olives, grains, and beans, but almost no evidence for hunting. “A thousand years earlier, the flesh of hunted animals is still a major component of our ancestors’ diet,” says Rosenberg. “A few hundred years later, we already find evidence that hunting is becoming more marginal.” This summer, Rosenberg’s team also uncover a roasting pit containing a nearly complete skeleton of a pig, possible evidence of a community-wide festival.
ROYAUME UNI – 
Edinburgh - A network of wooden water pipes has been found beneath Edinburgh’s city center,. Fifteen pieces of the elm piping were found at George Square as part of construction work on a new underground heating system at the University of Edinburgh. The pipes were part of an underground network built in 1756 to supply the city with clean drinking water from surrounding rural areas. “To uncover these water pipes preserved in situ beneath the cobbles was just incredible,” said Lindsay Dunbar of AOC Archaeology Group. “Whilst the use of such wooden pipes is well-documented and preserved examples exist within museums and collections, to find the pipes in situ is much rarer.” The pipes were extremely well preserved, allowing archaeologists to note details regarding their construction and joining techniques. The wood pipes, which were prone to rotting, were eventually replaced with cast iron ones.
GRECE – 
Evia - An inscribed marble slab which was found and seized by authorities on Thursday on the island of Evia is, according to a local expert, of significant archaeological significance. According to the head of the Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities Department at the archaeological site of Chalcis (Halkida), it is a 50x22 centimeter marble slab with an ancient Greek inscription carved into it. He said it dated to the Hellenistic era or Early Roman period, and had been part of an ancient sanctuary or ancient market. Moreover, he said the text could provide valuable insights into ancient Greek culture.
Authorities have launched an investigation to find out who had hidden the stone.
ISRAEL – 
Gedera - Archaeologists on Tuesday unveiled what they said was a major pottery plant which produced wine storage jars continuously from Roman to Byzantine times. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said that excavations near the town of Gedera, south of Tel Aviv, revealed the factory and an adjacent leisure complex of 20 bathing pools and a room used for board games. Excavation director Alla Nagorsky told journalists at the site that from the third century AD the plant produced vessels of a type known to historians as "Gaza" jars for an unbroken period of 600 years. An IAA statement added that the jars' main function was storage and shipment of wine, which was a flourishing local industry at the time, with large-scale exports. "The continuous production of these jars probably indicates that the business was a family one, which passed from generation to generation to generation," the IAA said in a statement. It said the remains of around 100,000 jars found buried at the site were probably discarded rejects. Alongside the factory, it added, were two Byzantine bathhouses, at least one with a heating boiler and 20 "finely constructed" pools, connected to one another by channels and pipes. "The archaeologists consider that the water complex served both the local population and the many travellers along the ancient main road connecting the port of Gaza with the centre of the country," the statement said. Gaza City lies about 30 miles (48 kilometres) southwest of Gedera, on the Mediterranean coast. During its long history, Gaza has been ruled by the Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, Mamluks and Ottomans. At Gedera, the IAA said, the games room was "a rare and surprising discovery". In it were boards used for playing backgammon and "mancala", games which are still popular in the area. The statement said the Gedera pottery works may have built the leisure centre for its employees, just as today's hi-tech companies provide recreation facilities for their workers.
https://www.afp.com/en/news/2265/ancient-pottery-factory-unveiled-israel-doc-1817mz1
UKRAINE – Olbia - Archaeological expedition found on the territory of the ancient Greek colony of Olbia (now Mykolaiv region) fragments of the house and valuable items dated to the IV century. This was reported by Radio Poland. "The crockery is in very good condition, and it is clear that they are made in a good workshop, so we assume that the house we are studying belonged to the rich townspeople. they could afford expensive crockery. So far, in Olbia, we have not been able to find such a valuable and a large tableware," the head of the expedition Alfred Twardecky said. Olbia is the most important Greek colony in the Lower Bug area, the delta of the Hypanis (Bug) River and the Borysphen (Dnieper) River, founded in 647 BC .
IRAN – 
Ganj Dareh - “The project has been conducted to collect new evidence concerning how sedentism and agriculture [domestication of plants and animals] started in the region, which is situated in central Zagros mountain range,” CHTN qouted Darabi as saying on Sunday. “It’s being carried out in the form of a joint research project between the Kermanshah-based Razi University and the University of Copenhagen under the auspices of Research Institute of Cultural Heritage & Tourism,” Darabi explained. The archaeological site was initially discovered in the early 1960s and was excavated by Canadian archaeologist Philip Smith in the 1960s and 1970s. The oldest settlement remains on the site date back to ca. 10,000 years ago, and reportedly have yielded the earliest evidence for goat domestication in the world. The only evidence for domesticated crops found at the site so far is the presence of two-row barley. The remains have been classified into five occupation levels, from A, at the top, to E. The current research is turning the spotlight on the deeper layers of D and E, Darabi said.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/425967/Iranian-Danish-archaeologists-probing-Neolithic-settlement-in