03 - 04 OCTOBRE 2010

 - 04 OCTOBRE :

 - U.S.A. : Beaufort - Archaeologists seeking ancient pirate booty are heading back to sea off North Carolina's coast -- a continuing effort to recover artifacts from the wreck believed to be Blackbeard's flagship.The boat, called Queen Anne's Revenge, is believed to have sank in 1718 near Beaufort, N.C. Archaeologists in the state aim to save a dozen cannons -- up to 8 feet long and as much as a ton in weight -- and the ship's 1,800-pound anchors by preventing the process that corrodes iron in saltwater. To do so, they apply skinny aluminum rods to the boat that act as annodes, supplying an electrical charge that inhibits corrosion. The 2010 expedition will continue through late October. While small dives on the wreck, such as a three-day dive in May, have allowed researchers to monitor and conduct limited work on site, this expedition marks the first serious excavation in two years.

         http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/10/04/archaeology-blackbeard-pirate-ship/?test%3Dlatestnews

 - NORVEGE :   Vestfold - Archaeologists think they have found two more Viking ships buried in Vestfold County south of Oslo. The biggest may be 25 metres long, larger than any found so far. Road construction near the old Viking trading center at Kaupang has led to the discovery of two large ship silhouettes on ground radar pictures. The images of Viking ships, along with several burial mounds, could be the biggest discoveries of their kind for more than a century. However archaeologists are fairly certain that they will not find an intact Viking ship. It probably has disintegrated since the properties of the local soil are not good enough. Both Norway’s famed Oseberg and Gokstad ships were buried in such favourable clay conditions. The two discoveries, which are considered to be the best preserved Viking ships in the world, were discovered under several tons of stone, tightly packed with clay. Even if archaeologists are not expecting finds on the scale of the Gokstad and Oseberg sites, there is good reason to believe that other cultural artifacts will be found in the ground.There might be a burial in the ship, but one cannot expect the organic material to have survived.

          http://www.newsinenglish.no/2010/09/24/new-images-may-yield-viking-ships/

 - FRANCE : Valenciennes - A Valenciennes, à deux pas du Coeur de Ville, les archéologues ont mis à jour sur un site où sera construit un hôtel, de superbes vestiges du 18e siècle. Un événement rare dans une cité où les découvertes portent surtout sur la période médiévale.L'ancien parc de l'hôtel particulier de Lambesc a livré ses secrets. Sur cette parcelle de 1400 m2 où doit être construit une résidence hôtelière, des fouilles préventives ont permis de découvrir une petite merveille. La découverte de cet aménagement paysager est une réelle surprise. C'est la première fois que je vois cela ! », s'enthousiasme Arnaud Tixador du service archéologique de Valenciennes. L'ensemble dater de l'époque Louis XV ou Louis XVI est en effet surprenant et dans un parfait état de conservation. « Nous avons un grand bassin d'agrément en briques avec son canal d'adduction dans lequel devait se déverser l'eau provenant des toitures. Cette trace montre qu'il y avait une pompe. »  Non loin du bassin, les archéologues s'affairent autour d'une petite structure, les vestiges d'un pavillon d'été. « Au-dessus de ces morceaux de revêtement de sol en pierre bleue ou en marbre, nous avons les restes d'une peinture en trompe l'oeil ». L'entrée du petit édifice devait sans doute être encadrée par deux colonnes couronnées par des chapiteaux, dont des morceaux ont été retrouvés. Près du bassin, le regard affûté d'Arnaud Tixador est attiré par des différences de nuances dans le sol : « Sans doute l'emplacement de massifs. Au-delà, nous avons des traces plus classiques datant de l'époque médiévale. »

          http://www.newspress.fr/communique_233114_2109_RSS-FR-ZON-506.aspx

 - ROYAUME-UNI : Orkney -

           http://news.scotsman.com/news/Neolithic-tomb-found-in-garden.6561782.jp?articlepage=2

 - VIET-NAM :   Hue - Vietnam is an ancient land filled with historic monuments, but archaeologists say many are falling into ruin. Sites like Hue, the old capital of Vietnam, are crumbling under the strain of centuries of weathering and an increased number of visitors.. The famous citadel at the UNESCO World Heritage Site is in especially bad repair, with one archaeologist saying it will be gone entirely within 15 years if nothing is done. Archaeologists are especially worried about 82 giant steles in Hanoi bearing the names of ancient degree earners. Some date back to the fifteenth century and it's traditional for Vietnamese students to run their hands along their surfaces for good luck before taking exams. With one million visitors last year, the wear and tear on the carved lettering can be imagined.

           http://www.gadling.com/2010/10/03/vietnam-monuments-under-threat/   

 - U.S.A. :  Brunswick - The history of Selden Park is well known locally. Attracted by mounds of discarded oyster and mussel shells, the archaeological team dug to see if it could find any signs of Native American dwellings on the site. After hours of digging, the archaeologists found only one possible post hole. The post holes are distinguishable because the decayed wood in them leaves a circle usually darker than the surrounding soil. But they found about 35 pieces of pottery. The site could date back to the Savannah II culture, around 1250 A.D. After examining the pottery, it came from the earlier Kelvin culture, dating it around 800-900 A.D.

          http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest-news/2010-10-03/ancient-indians-once-lived-whats-now-ga-city-park

 - 03 OCTOBRE :

 - ALGERIE : Medroussa - Une galerie souterraine, longue de plusieurs mètres, a été  découverte, mercredi,  par des travailleurs alors qu'ils allaient creuser pour la réalisation d'un réseau AEP pour la ville de Louhou  (ex-Medroussa), 35 km à l'ouest du chef-lieu de la wilaya de Tiaret. À une profondeur de 4 mètres du sol, l'engin s'est heurté à un bloc de pierre, ouvrant, par inadvertance, une galerie. La nouvelle s'est vite propagée  parmi la population de Louhou. Les vieux de la région se sont vite remémorés une légende  qui parle justement de ce tunnel, long de plusieurs kilomètres et qui part simultanément vers Aïn Soltane, une localité située à l'ouest du village, et d'autres tunnels vers les célèbres djeddars, des monuments funéraires berbères à quelques jets de là. Les djeddars remontent du temps de l’Afrique byzantine où de grandes principautés berbères s’étaient formées. L’une d’elles a laissé, près de Tiaret, dans la région de la Mina, des souvenirs durables de sa puissance. Ce sont treize monuments pyramidaux (mausolées). Certains historiens rapportent que leurs constructions est le fait «d’ouvriers romains et byzantins.

           http://www.elwatan.com/regions/ouest/tiaret/decouverte-d-une-importante-galerie-souterraine-a-medroussa-26-09-2010-91816_136.php

 - FRANCE : St-Pierre-le-Potier - Un diagnostic archéologique a été réalisé par le service d’archéologie préventive de la ville de Laval, sur une parcelle de la Louisière, à Saint-Pierre-le-Potier. Le chantier a été divisé en trois parcelles selon les découvertes. La première a montré des traces d’activité de poterie datant de la fin du XV^e ou du début du XVI^e siècle avec une carrière d’argile bleue. Dans la seconde parcelle, des drains ont été trouvés sur le terrain en pente. Enfin, la dernière découverte montre les traces d’une briqueterie datant du XIX^{e siècle.}

          http://www.ouest-france.fr/ofdernmin_-L%E2%80%99argile-livre-ses-secrets-a-Saint-Pierre-le-Potier-a-Laval_42314-1534270-pere-pdl_filDMA.Htm

 - MEXIQUE : El Tajin - After 3 years of restoration, the 30 meters long mural painting at El Tajin Archaeological Zone, in Veracruz, nearly 1000 years old, recovered their colors and iconography to be enjoyed by the general public. The mural paintings were created by the ancient Totonaca groups between 800 and 1200 AD in Building 1 at the area known as Tajin Chico, in the archaeological site. The murals presented deterioration and crumbles produced by salts and were painted on floors, walls, steps, rafters and niches; the completely decorated dwelling might have been occupied by a high-rank character. El Tajin was occupied between 600 and 1200 AD, and is classified in 2 sectors, the area of monuments and the dwelling one. In the first area are located administrative and political buildings, altars and ballgame courts, while residential areas such as El Tajin Chico are part of the second. A wall delimits these areas, marking the verticality of power, since it controlled access to the superior part. Building 1 also known as Temple of the Murals, was constructed in 3 different stages; in the last one, a polished stucco mural was created in white with geometrical designs that represent water and flowers.

          http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=41417

 - PALESTINE : Gaza - Archaeologists digging at a site on Gaza's border with Egypt have discovered ancient tunnels in the same area as today's smuggling tunnels. They are believed to be a part of a hidden city that is estimated to be over two thousand years old. However, the excavation work is complicated by the blockade of Gaza and there is also the constant risk of being hit by an Israeli rocket targeting a modern tunnel. There is also a shortage of funding for adequate excavation and looters are a constant threat.

Voir video : http://english.aljazeera.net/video/middleeast/2010/10/20101039027262314.html

 - U.S.A. :  New-York - Eleven weeks after a Revolutionary War-era ship emerged from the muck at the World Trade Center site, researchers are still trying to unlock its past. A shadowy outline of a story has emerged — from the vessel’s birth in a small shipyard to its death in the landfill that overtook the Hudson River — but exact dates and names remain a mystery. The boat’s modern saga started on July 13, when workers at the World Trade Center noticed an unusually curved piece of wood 25 feet below street level, just south of Liberty Street. Over the next two weeks, archaeologists dug out a 32-foot long section of the 18th-century boat’s hull, documented it exhaustively, disassembled it and carted it off to the Maryland Archeological Conservation Laboratory. The boat’s floorboards were irregular and "fitted together like a puzzle," suggesting it was built in a small town near a forest, not in one of the major east coast shipyards, which used standardized planks.   Once it set sail, the merchant ship likely spent its days traveling up and down the Atlantic coast, bringing wood and food down to the West Indies and returning with sugar, salt, molasses and rum. While in the Caribbean, the boat picked up an infestation of Teredo worms, which ate away at the wood. By 1797, it was buried in the landfill used to extend Manhattan’s shoreline westward.  More information about the boat’s owner and crew could come from the hundreds of artifacts found in and around the boat, including ceramics, musket balls, a buckle, a British button, a coin, animal bones, dozens of shoes and a human hair with a single louse on it.  

          http://www.dnainfo.com/20101001/downtown/new-clues-emerge-about-world-trade-center-boats-past

 - U.S.A. : Peoria Palo Verde Park - The archaeologist has been using a device that sends radar pulses to capture subsurface images. "This is as good as it gets as far as archaeological sites go," Hackbarth said, pointing dirt-lined fingers to a dug-up area. He has studied soil samples and traced pollen and stone fragments to prepare a report with "rich information" on what grew in the area and what settlement activity took place about 1,000 years ago. Hohokams artifacts dating from A.D. 890 to 1070 have been found, from rocks used as grinding tools to burned houses.

           http://www.azcentral.com/community/peoria/articles/2010/10/01/20101001peoria-palo-verde-park.html

          http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/004041.html