04  NOVEMBRE

INDI-UNI : ANTHROPOLOGY - ARCHAEOLOGY

     INSCRIPTION  2011 – 2012  COURS A DISTANCE 

     REGISTRATION  2011 – 2012  ONLINE COURSES

BULGARIE – Urvich - A total of 18 gold coins minted by medieval Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander (r. 1331-1371) have been discovered by the team of renowned Bulgarian archaeologist Prof. Nikolay Ovcharov. The coins were found during excavations of the medieval fortress Urvich near Sofia. The coins were described as the "treasure of the Shishman Dynasty", which ruled Bulgaria from the ascension of Tsar Ivan Alexander to the throne in 1331 AD to the demise of his sons – Tsar Ivan Shishman (r. 1371-1395) and Tsar Ivan Sratsimir (r. 1371-1396) in the hands of the Ottoman Turks when the Ottoman Turkish Empire conquered the Balkans in the 14th century. Ovcharov admitted that it is an overstretch to speak of a "treasure" when only 18 coins are available but he insisted the term should be used as a reference to what was believed to be the treasure of Tsar Ivan Shishman that he buried at the fortress of Urvich where he made a stand against the invading Ottoman Turkish forces in the 1370s and 1380s. The archaeologist believes that Tsar Ivan Shishman's treasure really existed but that most of it was snatched by treasure-hunters and that the 18 gold coins are everything that is left of it. "These coins were burred sometime between 1371 and 1372. This is precisely the "treasure" of the Shishman Dynasty since the rest of it has been stolen by treasure hunters," stated Ovcharov.

http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2011/11/gold-coins-of-medieval-bulgarian.html

PAYS BAS – Rotterdam - Des fouilles archéologiques menées dans le cadre de travaux d'expansion au port de Rotterdam ont démontré, pour la première fois, que des humains vivaient à cet endroit il y a neuf mille ans, soit à l'âge de pierre. "Des archéologues ont trouvé des traces d'os d'animaux, de pierre de silex et de charbon, a déclaré à Sjaak Poppe, un porte-parole du port de Rotterdam. C'est la première indication d'une société humaine dans l'ouest des Pays-Bas." Certains des fragments d'os retrouvés, d'une taille inférieure à un centimètre, "étaient brûlés d'une manière qui doit être le résultat de l'action humaine", a indiqué le port de Rotterdam dans un communiqué, précisant qu'il s'agit d'une preuve de la présence d'êtres humains à cet endroit au début et au milieu de l'âge de pierre. "Cet os brûlé et le charbon, également trouvé, sont des indications de la préparation de nourriture, comme de la viande grillée." En raison de sa flore et de sa faune "riches", l'endroit de la convergence du Rhin et de la Meuse était un endroit attirant pour les chasseurs et les cueilleurs, ceux-ci vivant à cette époque par groupes de dix environ. Les fouilles archéologiques, réalisées à 20 mètres sous le niveau de l'eau, ont été menées à l'endroit où est en train d'être construite une extension du port de Rotterdam.

http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2011/11/04/des-traces-de-vie-datant-de-l-age-de-pierre-retrouvees-au-port-de-rotterdam_1599268_3244.html#xtor=RSS-3208

ROYAUME UNI – Gorleston - Six items were discovered in what is believed to be an ancient boundary ditch at the East Coast Hospice site on Sidegate Road, near Beacon Park. The team from Hertfordshire-based Archaeological Solutions found two quoit-headed pins about 35cm long, two large decorated twisted torques 18cm diameter and two small torques.  The discoveries were made late in the survey after the earlier confirmation of the existence of an Iron Age ring ditch marking the possible burial of an important person close to what will become the entrance to the hospice. East Coast Hospice chairman David Nettleship said the site was believed to be of archaeological interest as circular crop marks could be seen in aerial photographs. The two quoit-headed pins are not common. Less than 60 are known and these are between the fifth and seventh longest recorded.

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/bronze_age_treasure_discovered_at_hospice_site_1_1114439

UAE - Dalma Island / Al Khan  - Archaeologists have discovered the buried remains of neolithic, medieval and later structures at two sites using sophisticated imaging technology. The group from the UK's University of Southampton spent the past two weeks examining coastal sites on Dalma Island in Al Gharbia and Al Khan in Sharjah, and said neolithic man was not as different from people today as one might think. "For thousands of years people were probably just hauling their fishing boats up with their catch and having a barbecue - right the way from the neolithic to, presumably, last week," said Kristian Strutt, a geophysics researcher on the team. On Dalma, evidence of large buildings found around a cemetery may date as far back as the middle Islamic era (1000-1250) and the late Islamic era (1500-1800) - the same periods to which pottery found during previous archaeological surveys was dated. The team's geophysical survey also identified the remains of buildings beneath farms, some of which formed part of an old souq. Radiocarbon dating of the Ubaid site at Dalma has shown it was occupied from 5500BC to 4500BC, and the latest survey has noted the presence of pits and postholes, representing a possible extension of the important neolithic site discovered there previously. Meanwhile, at the Sharjah site, the team picked up traces of 20 houses and located distinctive lines that may be significant. Mr Strutt explained: "We've found the remains of houses and courtyards over most of the area in Al Khan, and we're getting strange alignments of features that are suggestive of roads or trackways." Al Khan is an abandoned fishing village in the south of the emirate, and though some of the old coral stone houses are still standing, many have disappeared since their inhabitants left in the 1960s. The group used two types of technology - ground penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetometry - to search for the buried remains of human history. GPR fires electromagnetic radio waves into the ground and detects them when they are reflected back off objects and structures, allowing the operator to build up images of what lies beneath the surface at different levels. A magnetometer detects objects underground by sensing the magnetic fields they generate. Unlike GPR, it shows only the first objects or structures it hits, rather than revealing the underlying layers. "At Al Khan we were trying to see if the different geophysical equipment could give us an idea of previous alignments of buildings and settlements and earlier occupations," said Dr Lucy Blue, a maritime archaeologist from the University of Southampton. "Our aim was to produce a geophysical survey, a map, of the whole area."

http://www.thenational.ae/thenational/news/uae-news/ancient-settlements-detected-at-dalma-island-and-al-khan

MER NOIRE - Fredrik Hiebert, the Archaeology Fellow for the National Geographic Society, delivered the lecture titled “The Quest for Noah’s Flood.” Hiebert’s expeditions dealt with exploration of the Black Sea in search of the submerged landscape that was the original site of the Biblical flood. His findings have located submerged structures in the Black Sea’s deepest waters that mirror inland settlements, and the expedition is currently working on developing SONAR technology to fully access the structures. “We are hoping to resolve the mystery of this ancient flooded landscape, which can tell us more of the story of the great flooding that occurred there and its tie to the Biblical story,” Hiebert said.

http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2011/11/penn_museum_of_archaeology_and_anthropology_hosts_talk_on_finding_noahs_ark

SUISSE –  Morges - En face du parc de Vertou et dans la baie de Morges sont immergés les vestiges de villages préhistoriques. Construits au bord de l’eau, souvent sur pilotis, et conservés en milieu humide, on les appelle sites palafittiques. Préservés des regards, ils le sont surtout des ravages du temps qui passe. Une particularité archéologique rare, qui leur vaut désormais un statut prestigieux. En juin, «les sites palafittiques préhistoriques autour des Alpes» étaient classés par le comité de l’Unesco au Patrimoine mondial de l’humanité. Morges compte deux sites protégés où se côtoient trois époques. Au large du parc de Vertou, «Morges-Les Roseaux» abrite la séquence d’occupation littorale du bronze ancien (1800 à 1500 avant notre ère) la mieux conservée et la plus ancienne du bassin lémanique. Près du port, le deuxième site, «Morges-Stations de Morges», est constitué d’un ensemble archéologique très bien conservé. «Deux époques d’occupation s’y côtoient: le bronze final (1000 av. J.-C.) et le néolithique final (3400 à 2400 avant notre ère), précise Nicole Pousaz. Très riche en objets de céramique ainsi qu’en matières organiques, ce site permet d’observer la diffusion des influences occidentales sur les cultures des régions orientales.»

http://www.24heures.ch/vaud-regions/actu/fond-lac-morgien-inscrit-patrimoine-humanite-2011-10-30-0