03 JUILLET 2018: Jerusalem - Suffolk - Saqqara - Alexandrie - Suifen River -
INSTITUT SUPERIEUR D'ANTHROPOLOGIE
INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY
ONLINE COURSES / COURS A DISTANCE
SUMMER TERM : JULY 2018
REGISTER NOW
ISRAEL – 
Jerusalem - A rare coin minted 1,949 years ago was found last week in a dig in the City of David in Jerusalem. Reut Vilf of the City of David Foundation said the coin, discovered in the sewage system running beneath ancient Jerusalem, dates back to the year 69 C.E. — the fourth year of the Jewish revolt against Rome and the year in which the rebels despaired. According to Israeli media reports, a cache of bronze coins from that time was found in 2014 in a village near Jerusalem, and more were unearthed in a cave by the Temple Mount in 2018, from the second and fourth years of the rebellion. The coin found last week bears an inscription in ancient Hebrew lettering reading “For the Redemption of Zion” and a depiction of a chalice. Its other side features the Four Species used in the Sukkot holiday — the citron fruit, palm frond, and myrtle and willow branches — and the words “Year Four,” referring to the final year of rebellion against the Romans. ”The coin was found exactly in the same place that Jews had been hiding in the drainage channel under the street,” Vilf noted. Evidence of the rebels’ attempt to hide under the city includes intact oil lamps and ceramic pots that were found whole in the sewer itself. Interpreting the inscription on the coin, she said, ”Freedom is an immediate thing, while redemption is a process. It could attest to their understanding that the end was near.” Eli Shukron, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority, said that in all likelihood, the coin could have fallen into the drainage system through cracks of the stone-paved road.
ROYAUME UNI – 
Suffolk - As they dug into the field, archaeologists hit upon what appeared to be a wooden walkway, which they initially believed was built during the medieval period. But radiocarbon dating of the wood revealed that the construction was, in fact, a Neolithic trackway that dates to approximately 2300 B.C. Around 100 feet of the timber walkway and a host of other intriguing artifacts were unearthed during the excavation, according to Maev Kennedy of the Guardian. Archaeologists found wooden posts that seemed to mark the route of the trackway, which seemed to lead up to a platform, Kennedy writes. Along the trackway were white pebbles not commonly seen in the area, indicating that they were transported there deliberately. The team also discovered the hulking skull of an aurochs, an extinct wild ox, which had been cut in a way that suggests it sat atop a pole or was used as a headdress. The skull was already 2,000 years old when the trackway was built, so it likely held profound significance to the people who brought it to the area. These artifacts offer compelling evidence to suggest that the trackway was a ritual site. Neolithic peoples “weren’t living here,” Vinny Monahan, one of the archaeologists involved in the excavation, tells Kennedy. “[T]hey made this place deliberately and they were coming here because it was important to them.” The presence of the springs may also explain why the site was chosen “as a special place” more than 4,000 years ago, the statement notes. The site was used for hundreds of years by several ancient cultures. A Neolithic enclosure found in the area was built 500 years before the trackway. Archaeologists also found a Bronze Age enclosure, an Iron Age ditch, Roman ditches and the remains of Saxon buildings. According to Kennedy, the site was filled in the 11th century, which buried the springs and the artifacts that surrounded them
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/neolithic-trackway-possibly-ritual-site-discovered-england-180969493/#0iydU4hDrX3cgg29.99
EGYPTE – 
Saqqara - The archaeological team working on restoring and maintaining the Djoser Pyramid in the Saqqara necropolis have uncovered a bronze statue of the god Osiris, during work on the western façade of the pyramid, according to a Facebook post by the Ministry on Antiquities on Sunday. Mostafa al-Waziry, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that the statue was found inside a small hole between huge stone blocks located in the front area of the pyramid. It was uncovered while removing waste. Waziry added that the statue depicts Osiris standing and holding a feather in one hand and a scepter in the other, wearing a crown with two feathers and two horns. The statue is 63 cm high and approximately 15 cm in width.
http://www.egyptindependent.com/osiris-statue-found-djoser-pyramid/
EGYPTE – 
Alexandrie - Another archaeological mission affiliated to the Supreme Council of Antiquities discovered an ancient cemetery dating back to the Ptolemaic era, while digging on al-Karamily Street in Sidi Gaber area east of Alexandria. Waziry explained that the cemetery contained a coffin made of black granite, one of the largest coffins found in Alexandria. The coffin is 185 cm high, 265 cm long and 165 cm in width. Head of the Antiquities Sector Ayman Ashmawy said that the cemetery was found at a depth of 5 meters under the ground. A layer of mortar between the lid and the body of the coffin was found, indicating that it had not been opened since it was closed at the time of its manufacture, Ashmawy said. A 40 cm alabaster statue of a man likely belonging to the owner of the cemetery was also discovered, he added.
http://www.egyptindependent.com/osiris-statue-found-djoser-pyramid/
CHINE - Suifen River - Archaeologists have discovered stoneware dating back to the Old Stone Age near the Suifen River in northeast China, according to the archeological center of Jilin University. An archaeological team headed by the center has conducted an investigation along the Suifen River and its tributaries. A total of 17 Paleolithic sites were found and nearly 800 stoneware items were unearthed. Researchers believe that the stoneware items were all made in the late period of the Old Stone Age, mostly dating back 10,000 to 20,000 years, meaning the area was long inhabited by people in ancient times. The discovery is expected to offer important material for the study of the Paleolithic culture in the area. The Suifen River runs 443 km in length, 258 km of which is in China, and empties into the Sea of Japan through Russia.
