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CHINE - Shuangliao - An ancient tomb dating back to the Liao Dynasty (907-1125) and Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) was discovered in a village in northeast China's Jilin Province. The provincial institute of cultural heritage and archaeology said the tomb is located in a farmyard in Sihe Village of the city of Shuangliao. Local farmers accidentally uncovered the tomb when digging at the site. An archaeological team later launched a preliminary excavation and found the rare tomb was well-preserved and undisturbed. Archaeologists also found a rectangular brick altar in the tomb passage and a goat skull. The archaeological team is now devising a plan, through scientific and technological means such as aerial photography and three-dimensional scanning, to unveil more mysterious details of the tomb.
http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2020-08/05/content_76348874.htm
PORTUGAL – 
Perdigões - Archaeological excavations in the Perdigões complex, in the Évora district, have identified "a unique structure in the Prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula", Era -Arqueologia announced. Speaking to the Lusa agency, the archaeologist in charge, António Valera, said that it was "a monumental wooden construction, of which the foundations remain, with a circular plan and more than 20 metres in diameter". It is "a ceremonial construction", a type of structure only known in Central Europe and the British Isles, according to the archaeologist, with the designations as 'Woodhenge', "wooden versions of Stonehenge", or 'Timber Circles' (wooden circles). The structure now identified is located in the centre of the large complex of ditch enclosures in Perdigões and "articulates with the visibility of the megalithic landscape that extends between the site and the elevation of Monsaraz, located to the east, on the horizon". "A possible access to the interior of this structure is oriented towards the summer solstice, reinforcing its cosmological character", said Valera, stressing that "this situation is also known in other European countries as 'woodhenges' and 'timber circles', where astronomical alignment entrances are frequent, underlining the close relationship between these architectures and the Neolithic views of the world ". The archaeologist stressed that "this discovery reinforces the already high scientific importance of the Perdigões enclosure complex in the international context of European Neolithic studies while increasing its heritage relevance", which was recognised in 2019 with the classification as a National Monument. This site has been excavated for 23 years by the company and has brought together collaborations from various institutions and national and foreign researchers. The site has a chronology of about 1400 years, since the end of the Middle Neolithic (around 3400 BC) and the beginning of the Bronze Age (around 2000 BC).
https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/woodhenge-discovered-in-prehistoric-complex-of-perdigoes/55177
IRAN - Nahavand - “The fifth season of excavation for possibly unearthing the Laodicea Temple from Dokhaharan region of Nahavand city came to an end after some new clues on the ancient sanctuary was found,” Nahavand cultural heritage chief Mohsen Janjan announced on Sunday. A total of 12 trenches were dug during this archaeological survey, which the aim of lessening the size of a previously demarcated area which adds up to 12 ha. And the month-long survey ended on July 24, the official explained. According to Janjan, the survey was tightly based on speculations and discoveries made during the four previous seasons, which had uncovered capital column heads, related shafts, and bases as well as striking pieces of engraved pottery dating from the Seleucid era. Some archaeologists believe that the core of an ancient Greek temple is buried beneath many residential units built by the locals on the site over the years. In 1943, archaeologists discovered an 85x36 centimeter ancient inscription of 30 lines written in Greek calling on the people of Nahavand to obey the laws of the government. The inscription indicated the existence of the Laodicea Temple, which had been built by the Seleucid king who ruled Asia Minor, Antiochus III the Great (223-187 BC), for his wife Queen Laodicea.
ISRAEL - Dimona - Des fouilles récentes menées à Dimona (sud), ont permis de découvrir un site dédié à la taille du silex datant du Paléolithique moyen (entre 250.000 ans et 50.000 ans avant le présent). Les humains préhistoriques se seraient appropriés ce site afin de profiter de l'abondance de silex à partir duquel ils fabriquaient leurs outils. Ce qui rend ce lieu absolument unique d'après les archéologues est la technique de taille de la pierre dont il témoigne. Originaire d'Afrique et connue sous le nom de "débitage nubien", cette technologie, tracée par les chercheurs, permet de faire la lumière sur les voies de migration des humains modernes de l'Afrique vers le reste du monde, il y a environ 100.000 ans. Selon les directeurs de fouilles, les chercheurs en préhistoire Talia Abulafia et Maya Oron de l'IAA, "il s'agit de la première preuve d'une industrie du silex 'nubienne' découverte dans le pays". Les artefacts en silex taillés sont restés à leur place d'origine, là où les hommes s'asseyaient pour les façonner. La fabrication de ces outils est identifiée aux populations humaines modernes qui vivaient en Afrique de l'Est et qui ont ensuite émigré dans le monde entier. Au cours de la dernière décennie, de nombreux "sites nubiens" ont été découverts dans la Péninsule arabique, conduisant les experts à affirmer que les humains modernes avaient quitté l'Afrique en passant par la péninsule arabique. Le site découvert à Dimona est toutefois le plus au nord de tous les sites jamais découverts.
TURQUIE - 
Amorium - Des fouilles archéologiques ont permis la découverte d’un grenier byzantin, en Turquie, rapporte l’agence de presse Anadolu. Le bâtiment se trouvait sur le site de l’antique ville d’Amorium, dans la province d’Afyonkarahisar. Le grenier exhumé date du IXe siècle. Les archéologues pensent qu’il appartenait à une ferme. Dans son enceinte, les scientifiques ont retrouvé 11 pithoï, grandes jarres d’origine grecque, remplies de céréales.
GRECE – 
Une étude menée par une équipe d'archéologues suggère que de nombreux temples et sanctuaires de l'Antiquité grecque étaient munis de rampes pour faciliter l'accès des personnes à mobilité réduite. Ce travail a été mené par Debby Sneed, de l'université d'État de Californie. Selon la chercheuse, ces rampes étaient choses communes dans les sanctuaires de soin, fréquentés par des visiteurs souffrant parfois de troubles de la mobilité. Parmi ceux-ci, le sanctuaire d'Asclépios et théâtre d'Épidaure, dans le nord-est de la Grèce actuelle, dont la rampe a été installée vers -370. La trouvaille de cette étude, publiée dans la revue Antiquity, est le plus ancien témoignage de civilisations anciennes adaptant leur architecture aux besoins des personnes handicapés. «Les archéologues savaient que les temples grecs étaient équipés de rampes, mais ont constamment ignoré ce fait dans leurs discussions sur l'architecture grecque, a-t-elle poursuivi. Il y a plus de 2.000 ans, les Grecs de l'Antiquité dépensaient de l'argent et consacraient une partie de leur temps à construire des rampes afin d'aider les individus qui ne pouvaient pas monter ou descendre des escaliers, sans qu'aucune législation les y contraigne.» One of the most important healing sanctuaries, the Sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidauros had 11 stone ramps installed on nine structures within the sanctuary complex that was incorporated around 370 BC. At a sanctuary of Asclepius in Corinth, a large number of dedications to the god represent legs and feet, suggesting that people requested healing in these limbs.
ULSTER – 
Navan - The remains of "monumental temples" dating to the Iron Age and medieval buildings may be hidden underground at Navan Fort, an archaeological site in Northern Ireland, a new study finds. Exactly what's left of these ruins, however, remains to be seen. Archaeologists discovered the buried structures by using remote-sensing techniques. These Iron Age and medieval buildings suggest that Navan Fort was "an incredibly important religious center and a place of paramount sacral and cultural authority in later prehistory”. Navan Fort, which sits just outside of Armagh city, was the capital of the ancient province of Ulster (known in Irish as Ulaid) in pre-Christian Ireland, according to medieval texts. It's also the backdrop of various Irish myths and historical texts, which refer to it as "Emain Macha." Since the 1960s, archaeologists have recognized Navan Fort as a complex religious site that was used by the elite as long ago as the late Bronze Age and the Iron Age, or about 1000 B.C. to A.D. 400. This isn't the first archaeological look at Navan Fort. Excavations in the 1960s and 1990s revealed a "spectacular series of buildings" from the early Iron Age that "included a series of what's called figure-of-eight buildings, as well as the largest building ever excavated in prehistoric Ireland that's known as the 40-meter [130 feet] structure," Gleeson said. After building the 40-meter structure with timber in about 95 B.C., ancient people filled it with stones and burnt it to the ground that same year, which created a huge mound that is still visible today.
https://www.livescience.com/iron-age-temples-medieval-kings-ireland.html
