01 JUIN 2016 NEWS: Salford - Radhanagar - Talapada - Göztepe - Tokoiti - Vufflens la Ville - Wight -
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ROYAUME UNI – 
Salford - The ghost of William ‘Black’ Douglas is about to be stirred. The head of a firm of cotton spinners and merchants his nickname stemmed from his harsh treatment of pauper children. His home was Pendleton Old Hall, Salford, where he died in 1810. His ghost was said to haunt the area for years after. Today’s Douglas Green area of Salford was named after him. Now an archaeological dig is due to start on Tuesday to investigate his legacy. A community excavation is being held at the site of Pendleton Old Hall, a 16th century manor house. The dig will also seek to locate remains of Douglas Mills, established by William, which became one of the largest spinning mills in Manchester, with 3000 to 4000 spindles at work in 1792 in a six-storey building. Archaeologist, Florence Laino, outreach officer on the project, said: “We will be digging in two areas that have been selected by way of an archaeological evaluation we conducted last year, in which we opened up 12 trenches to see what the nature of the archaeology might be. “Excitingly we found evidence of three structures on site, including structures which might relate to Pendleton Old Hall - documentary evidence suggests it dates from the 16th century, Douglas Mills 18th century, and Irwell Bleach Works, 19th century.”
INDE - Radhanagar / Talapada - Urban settlements akin to the ancient Sisupalgarh, although smaller in size, have been found in four different parts of the State. In the last two years, archaeologists have excavated rare square-shaped fortified settlements similar to Sisupalgarh in Lathi and Jougada near Berhampur, Radhanagar in Jajpur district and Talapada near Khurda. This was informed by archaeologists at the inaugural session of the two-day-long national seminar on ‘Recent Researches in Early History and Culture of Odisha’ here in Bhubaneswar on Monday. Interestingly, the settlement in Radhanagar is a century older than Sisupalgarh. Excavations have revealed that all the square-shaped settlements had water tanks in all four corners and a large water body at the centre. The house structures, roads, passages besides cultural materials like polished pottery, fabrics and jewellery found from all the sites are similar in structure and quality. “Talpada was a fortified early historic town located on the right bank of river Malguni. “It is an exact miniature of Sisupalgarh,” said Dr Rabindra Kumar Mohanty from Deccan College of Archaeology, who was involved in the excavation. Further, the archaeologists said earlier, there was no evidence of presence of square-shaped urban settlements in this part of the country except in Sisupalgarh. “Square-shaped settlements have always been found in North India, but these findings have opened up a new dimension to beginning of urban growth in Kalinga (ancient Odsha),” said Sunil Patnaik, secretary of the host institute - Odishan Institute of Maritime and South East Asian Studies. The Suabarei excavation, which was recently completed by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), has thrown light on some interesting aspects of the site that lies between the right bank of river Daya and river Gangua, 24 km from Bhubaneswar. Director (excavation) of ASI Jeevan Patnaik said the Suabarei mound shows a gap of 500 years between the Neolithic and Chalcolithic eras. Ruins of half-a-dozen circular huts, that are varied in dimension and east-facing, have been found within 1.5 acre of land on the mound that was excavated. “Use of mud bricks for the first time was reported from Chalcolithic level huts in Odisha. People were skilled in fishing as evident from the available copper fish hook, fish bones, tortoise shells and a shark fish teeth of which one has a perforation for reuse as a pendant,” Patnaik said. All artefacts found from Suabarei are similar to those excavated from Golbai Sasan.
TURQUIE – 
Göztepe - Excavation works which have been continuing at the Göztepe Tumulus in the Black Sea province of Karabük’s Safranbolu district will soon come to an end. Tumuli, which were first seen in the Phrygians era in Anatolia, were burial mounds which included the body of a dead person as well as his belongings and gifts. They also symbolized the richness of the dead person with their architecture and length. The works at the Göztepe Tumulus have been continuing since 2012 and will be finished within a month. Four human skeletons and various findings in the 25-meter tumulus will shed light particularly on the Ancient Age era in Safranbolu, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Safranbolu Mayor Necdet Aksoy said the history of the district was known to date back to 3,000 years ago but the findings might bring them to the 4th century B.C. He said they also expected to find the monumental tomb of Alexander the Great, adding, “Our district is famous for its success in protecting and keeping Ottoman era structures. Thanks to this, we host nearly 750,000 tourists. Artifacts that will be unearthed until the work ends will shed light on the history of the district.” Aksoy said excavations carried out in various periods over the last five years would end soon and only five more meters of digging was needed to reach the tomb. “The tomb will be reached in the coming days,” he added.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?pageID=238&nid=99851&NewsCatID=375
NOUVELLE ZELANDE – Tokoiti - University of Otago researchers hope to "give a voice to the voiceless'' and shed new light on Otago's early European farmers through a proposed study that seeks to analyse skeletons from unmarked graves near Milton. The TP60 group has located records of 68 burials in the St John's Church of England Cemetery on the back road at Tokoiti. The first known burial was in 1860 and the last in 1926. The cemetery has long been neglected, only six full headstones have survived, and the TP60 group is keen to restore and protect the graveyard and to identify, where possible, where some individual people are buried, so graves can be marked. The researchers hope to recover 20-30 individuals, initially focusing on burials beyond the current cemetery fence.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/385128/bone-study-shed-light-ancestors
SUISSE – 
Vufflens la Ville - Plus de 1300 visiteurs ont admiré les vestiges exceptionnels d'une agglomération celtique du 2e siècle avant J-C- lors de portes ouvertes samedi à Vufflens-la-Ville (VD). Le site a été découvert lors de sondages réalisés pour le chantier de la route cantonale RC 177. Débutées à fin avril 2015 et prévues sur une durée de 13 mois, Les fouilles constituent un champ d'investigation d'une qualité rare. Elles ont livré des vestiges particulièrement bien conservés sur plus de 7000 m2 de terrain agricole à proximité du village. Le chantier de 400 mètres de long et 20 de large a permis de mettre au jour une seule grande agglomération. Elle a été occupée entre le 2e et le 1er siècle avant J.-C.: «Il y avait du monde, des centaines, voire des milliers de personnes», estime l'archéologue. Puis les habitants sont partis, sans doute pour se mettre en hauteur dans des citadelles, un phénomène qui avait cours dans toute l'Europe. Outre Vufflens, il existe très peu d'autres agglomérations en Suisse de cette époque, à savoir Berne, Yverdon et Bâle. La caractéristique de Vufflens est qu'elle est conservée en l'état. Elle n'a pas été perturbée par des occupations ultérieures. Deux quartiers de styles différents occupaient chacun une terrasse naturelle. Ils étaient séparés par un secteur voué à la production d'objets en métal: parures, fibules en bronze, armement, fourreaux d'épée. Beaucoup sont des éléments marqueurs de richesse. Les maisons d'une durée de vie d'une vingtaine d'années étaient construites en fer et en bois. Elles se sont superposées au gré des démolitions et des reconstructions. «Y vivaient des artisans, des aristos et des esclaves», résume l'archéologue. En contrebas, dans la plaine de la Venoge, un second espace artisanal était dédié à la production de céramique et comprend au moins cinq fours de potiers. Deux espaces funéraires ont également été repérés en périphérie de l'agglomération. Plus de 400 parures et une centaine de monnaies figurent à l'inventaire, dont de la monnaie de Marseille, de Zurich et du nord de l'Italie. Preuve que Vufflens était un pôle important à la croisée des grands axes de communication nord-sud et est-ouest.
http://www.tdg.ch/suisse/suisse-romandegros-succes-fouilles-celtes/story/20510068
ROYAUME UNI – 
Wight - When human remains were discovered on an Isle of Wight beach last year it sparked a police investigation — but nearly 15 months after the find, a coroner’s inquiry has confirmed the skeleton was nearly 2,000 years ago. When police removed the skeleton from its foetal position in the silt it was found that the skull was largely complete, most of the other bones were present and there was evidence that the elderly woman suffered from a withered left arm.,The coroner’s investigation centred on whether the woman had died recently, whether the bones were from a long washed-away graveyard attached to the nearby Quarr Abbey, or if they were older than that. After consulting the Ministry of Justice, Island coroner Caroline Sumeray decided the remains should form part of the Isle of Wight Council’s archaeology collection where they will be appropriately and ethically stored. Ms Sumeray said: "I am not sure why radio carbon dating took so long to be completed, but the result that the lady’s remains dated from AD 28 to AD 90 stunned me.
