05 AOÛT 2016 NEWS: Aix en Provence - Aars - Perge - Kastritsi -
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FRANCE – 
Aix en Provence - Un vestige de l'Empire romain a jailli de terre à Aix-en-Provence. Le site officiel de la mairie a annoncé la découverte d'une voie antique et d'une sépulture, construites entre le Ier et le IIIe siècle sous la terre de sa ville. Opérées par une dizaine de personnes de la direction Archéologie de la mairie (Drac), les fouilles ont débuté le 11 juillet et devraient durer jusqu'au début du mois de septembre. Elles se concentrent dans un périmètre de 3100 m² autour de l'hôpital de la ville. Cette voie est visible sur près de cinquante mètres de long, à l'ouest de la route menant à l'hôpital et se situe quatre mètres plus bas. Ce sentier antique est entièrement construit en pierres et en galets. Il mesure près de neuf mètres de large. Sa chaussée, est marquée par les traces d'usure de charrettes, témoignant d'une intense utilisation. D'après le service régional d'archéologie sa structure a énormément de similitudes avec la voie Aurélienne et son pendant littoral, respectivement fouillés en 1986 sur l'espace Forbin se trouvant juste à côté d'un cimetière. Sur la partie ouest de la voie romaine, les archéologues ont fait jaillir de terre une tombe à crémation. Les chercheurs estiment que la présence d'un noyau funéraire devrait être prochainement révélée. Avec la nécropole au sud de la ville, et celle récemment découverte au 41 cours Gambetta, on pourrait avoir ici un troisième cimetière antique. Les rives de cette voie sont aussi occupées par d'autres structures qu'il reste à identifier. «Des petits bâtiments agricoles, des traces de mise en culture, des objets du quotidien restent encore cachés sous terre», souligne l'archéologue Ariane Aujaleu, toujours sur le site officiel de la mairie. L'analyse couche par couche de la route antique va ainsi permettre d'affiner et de reconstituer l'histoire du site. On en saura plus sur son mode de construction, sa chronologie, sa structure et les modalités de son entretien. La fouille minutieuse de ce sentier impérial et des sépultures qui l'accompagnent permettra de mieux comprendre les pratiques funéraires de la population aixoise au cours de l'Empire romain.
DANEMARK - Aars - Danish archaeologists have discovered a mysterious New Stone Age construction near the town of Aars in northeastern Jutland.“I never use the word sensation, but I must admit this is as close as it gets,” Bjarne Nielsen, the leader of the research team and curator at Vesthimmerlands Museum, told newspaper Nordjyske Stiftstidende.“We have not seen anything like it before.” The unusual site consists of seven black spots on sandy soil. The innermost spot includes the remains of a well that is 170 cm deep and mostly lined with stones. However, the archaeologists found a lot of burnt bone fragments inside the well. “We believe these are human bones that were crushed after burning. Perhaps because the soul needed to be completely released from the body,” noted Nielsen. The other six spots are also lined with stones, but each of them has a thick pole driven deep into the ground. The poles are believed to have supported a roof over the well. The remains of a settlement and several individual graves with burnt human bones, as well as an arrowhead and a piece of dagger, were discovered at the location, which has helped to date the site to the Neolithic period (aka the New Stone Age). Constructions resembling the mysterious well have been found in the UK, but not in the rest of Europe, according to Nielsen. “This indicates there has been a connection between the Limfjord and England some 4,000 years ago,” Nielsen explained. The skeletal remains and a sample of the black layer from the bottom of the well have been sent for DNA analysis.
http://cphpost.dk/news/danish-archaeologists-find-mysterious-well.html
TURQUIE – 
Perge - Continuing excavation and restoration work at the ancient city of Perge in southernAntalya province has unearthed a trove of rare and priceless artifacts, including a one-of-a-kind statue of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who took the throne in the Roman Empire in the 2nd century. Other findings unearthed during the excavations included two Aphrodite statues, Asclepius, Tykhe, Nemesis, Helios and Selene statues, a snake statue, a dressed man statue, a dressed woman statue and a horse statue. In order to display these priceless artifacts and the statue of the Roman emperor, who was also known as Caracalla, a special section named the “Perge Western Street and F5 Fountain” has been created in the Antalya Museum. It is claimed that the statue of the emperor Caracalla, one of the most important artifacts decorating the Caracalla Fountain, which was unearthed at the junction of the Western City Gate and the Northern Bath, is the only one in the world. Right next to the huge marble Caracalla statue in the museum a small soldier statue is displayed, which reveals its magnificence. The huge statue lacks only its right hand. There is also a part of an unknown object which the statue once held in its lost hand and which extends to its head. The Caracalla statue’s dress bears Medusa and eagle figures. The Caracalla statue, which was removed from the Nymphaeumu pool, stands 2.2 meters in height. The one and only solid statue of the emperor that has been discovered so far is said to have special importance. There is a Corona Civica (a chaplet of common oak leaves woven to form a crown) on the head of the statue. The officials at the Antalya Museum said many artifacts had been removed on the same area and they decided to create a special section for them. The 70th year of excavations in the ancient city of Perge, which lies within the borders of the Aksu district, 17 kilometers away from Antalya city center, started in February. The first work was commenced in the city in 1946 by Prof. Arif Müfid Mansel and is now carried out by the Antalya Museum.
BULGARIE – 
Kastritsi Fortress - A large 14th century inn, which might possibly also have been a “brothel", has been discovered during the 2016 summer excavations of the Kastritsi Fortress located close to the Euxinograd Palace, a residence of the Bulgarian government, on the Black Sea coast near Varna. The ancient and medieval fortress of Kastritsi was a major and thriving sea port during the Late Medieval Ages. The fortress and its buildings have been especially well preserved because it is inside the enclosed territory of the Euxinograd Residence of the Bulgarian government, which has been with limited public access since the end of the 19th century.
