08 MAI 2022 NEWS
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UKRAINE – 
Petrykiv - One man and woman from the late Bronze Age have been discovered near Petrykiv village in Ukraine, locked in an affectionate embrace for 3,000 years. The man's skeleton lays flat on the ground, while his lover wraps both of her arms around his neck and curls her body against his side. The pair originated from the prehistoric Vysotskaya culture, which was located in modern-day western Ukraine. Due to the naturalness of the woman's position, archaeologists believe that she was likely buried alive with her partner. “From our point of view, this woman did it voluntarily,” Professor Mykola Bandrivsky, director of the Transcarpathian branch of the Rescue Archaeological Service of the Institute of Archeology of Ukraine, says. “Maybe the woman did not want to live with some other man and get used to some new way of life. So, she preferred to pass away with her husband.” A sketch imagines what the couple looked like at the time of their death. Both individuals were decorated in bronze decorations and buried alongside pottery items, which was typical of burials from this era. “People in the Late Bronze Age believed in the eternal life of the human soul,” Dr. Brandrovsky continues. “We suppose such a decision was dictated only by [the woman's] own desire, and her attempt to stay with her beloved one. She may, for example, have drunk a chalice of poison to make joining her husband easy and painless.”
https://mymodernmet.com/bronze-age-embracing-couple-buried/
ANGLETERRE – 
Hadrian wall - Hadrian’s Wall (the inspiration for Game of Thrones’ Great Wall) was built in what is today northern England, during Roman times. Emperor Hadrian had it built starting AD 122, to defend the Ancient Britons from peoples living in today’s Scotland, such as the Picts. It was designed to keep the “barbarians” away from the Romans. The Wall was largely successful — not that it stopped or prevented all attacks, but it was a noteworthy display of power by the Romans and was effective in controlling the flow of people in and out of Roman Britannia. Roman soldiers, however, showed their appreciation by drawing dozens and dozens of penises on it. Newcastle archaeologist Rob Collins says he has identified 57 other etchings of male genitalia scattered across the length of Hadrian’s Wall. But it wasn’t necessarily that they were disrespectful — the penises had a very specific meaning. Penis inscriptions and talismans were quite common in Rome. They were meant to ward off evil spirits and bring about good fortune. Simply put, in Rome, penises were a good luck charm. But outside of Rome, they were more of a symbol of status, a simple message that everyone could get: “here there be Romans, and we rule this place”.
https://www.zmescience.com/science/archaeology/hadrians-wall-penises-archaeology-30032019/
ESPAGNE – 
Cortijo de Acebedo - Mijas town hall is continuing to advance with its archaeological excavation of the Cortijo de Acebedo, the westernmost Phoenician necropolis in the province of Malaga. The site, which is located at the foot of the old marine estuary of the Fuengirola river, dates to around the seventh century BCE. Three archaeologists from the University of Cadiz visited the site this week to continue the research of the area, which has so far produced surprising results. Last month, archaeologists discovered a perfectly preserved Phoenician funeral urn, although they were confused as to why the urn did not contain any remains, which is unusual with this type of urn, known as a ‘black cross’. Researchers are now trying to decipher whether several bones – believed to be those of an adult female – and a small metallic element found next to the find are related to the funeral urn. They believe the metallic piece will be key to deciphering why the urn does not contain the remains of the deceased. Specialists are currently considering several hypotheses. One of them is that it served as a container for herbs or lichens that was used during the funeral ritual, although, as the anthropologist of the Centre for Phoenician and Punic Studies Victoria Peña, points out, “this is not usual”.
ITALIE – 
Cabras - The powerful torso of two boxers, a large flexible shield that covers the stomach and wraps the arms. Then heads, legs, and other body parts-only days after the latest archaeological campaign resumed, the remains of the Montepra Manulage civilization’s cemetery in Cabras created the remains of two new monumental statues. ..They are still a mystery, two giants joining the army of warriors and boxers who have made Sardinian ruins world-famous. A field survey that began on April 4 confirms that the necropolis extends south and has a major burial road adjacent to the tomb. The two new giants have different characteristics from the boxers found in the field in the mid-1970s after accidentally discovering this wonderful place. Many mysteries remain about this place, which began around the 12th century BC, the giants of the 11th and 8th centuries BC, and their end. Who were these huge 2 meter high stones? Is it an ancient caretaker of a sacred area, a buried hero, an expression of the social function of an ancestor, or an identity symbol of a community? And why did they fall and become rubble on the tomb they intended to watch over? Was their end the result of a battle between the local communities or did it depend on the Carthaginians? Usai said he was devoted to another hypothesis of “natural” destruction.
https://worldakkam.com/two-more-giants-found-in-monteplama-lifestyle/739804/
INDE – 
Rakhi Garhi - The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which has been working in Rakhi Garhi in Haryana for the last 32 years, made one of its biggest discoveries yet with the excavation of a 5000 year old jewellery making factory. Rakhi Garhi is a village and one of the oldest archaeological sites belonging to the Indus Valley Civilisation in Hisar district of Haryana. The structure of some houses, a kitchen complex and a 5000-year-old jewellery making factory was discovered, which shows that the site must have been a very important trade centre. Copper and gold jewellery were also found which had been hidden for thousands of years.
MEXIQUE – 
Tenochtitlan - Archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of a dwelling that was built up to 800 years ago during the Aztec Empire in the Centro neighborhood of Mexico City. The dwelling is believed to date from the late Postclassic period (A.D. 1200 to 1521) and would have been located on the border of two neighborhoods in the city of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire. It spans over 4,300 square feet (400 square meters), or about half the size of a baseball diamond. During the late Postclassic, the area that is now being excavated was a residential and agricultural center, and archaeologists at the site also found the remains of channels and a jetty (a platform where boats stop to load or unload) used in the Aztec chinampa method of farming. The chinampa technique involved growing crops on small areas of artificial land (sometimes referred to as floating gardens) on shallow lake beds. Archaeologists found more Aztec artifacts in the residential area of the excavations. Under the Aztec building's thick adobe floors, the excavation team found a pair of funerary vessels that contain the bone remains of infants, as well as several burials associated with an offering of censers (vessels in which incense is burned), whorls (a spinning machine or spindle) and spinning tools. The researchers also unearthed a stone statue that stands just over 23.5 inches (60 centimeters) tall. The statue, also from the late Postclassic period, depicts a man wearing a loincloth who looks as if he is throwing something. Archaeologists believe that the statue may have been unfinished, as it lacks polish on the body, and they speculated that it may have been hidden at the time of Spanish intervention in the Aztec Empire, which began around A.D. 1521 according to the statement. Investigations into the remains of the dwelling also show evidence of a saddlery and ceramic workshop, which existed on the site in the colonial era of the 16th and 17th centuries.
https://www.livescience.com/aztec-house-discovered-mexico
FRANCE – 
Formigny-La-Bataille - Une équipe de l’Inrap vient d’achever une fouille de deux mois à Formigny-La-Bataille (Calvados). 5000 ans avant J.-C., la Normandie voit l’arrivée des premiers colons agriculteurs-éleveurs en Normandie. Les archéologues ont pu étudier à Formigny la progression de ce front pionnier vers l’Ouest, dans un environnement alors largement boisé et occupé par les derniers groupes de chasseurs–cueilleurs. Ainsi, ils ont mis en évidence un établissement du Néolithique ancien (culture du Villeneuve-Saint-Germain), vers 4800-4700 av. J.-C., matérialisé par une dizaine de fosses riches en matériel lithique (silex taillés, déchets de taille, meules ou instruments de broyage, bracelets en schiste) et en céramique. Dans ces premiers villages, les fosses sont généralement liées à l’extraction de matériaux pour la construction des maisons. Quelques trous de poteaux suggèrent l’emplacement d’un possible bâtiment trapézoïdal orienté est-ouest, long d’une vingtaine de mètres. Les céramiques sont pour la plupart des vases sphériques comportant des décors caractéristiques de la période (cordons en V, décors imprimés). L’outillage lithique recourt à divers matériaux qualitatifs issus de la Plaine de Caen et du Bessin. L’essentiel des découvertes sur le site de Formigny concerne une phase d’occupation attribuée à l’âge du Bronze ancien, environ 2000 ans avant notre ère : elle se caractérise par une trame parcellaire dont l’orientation diffère de celle d’aujourd’hui. Ce réseau de parcelles semble se distribuer autour d’un fossé principal qui traverse l’emprise de fouille d’est en ouest. De nombreux fossés secondaires se développent de part et d’autre du fossé principal. Ces différents fossés ont livré un abondant mobilier en céramique, suggérant qu’ils n’avaient pas seulement une fonction agraire, mais qu’ils servaient également à structurer l’espace autour d’un probable habitat. Le système parcellaire de l’âge du Bronze ancien observé à Formigny rend compte d’une évolution majeure des paysages normands, avec les plus anciens vestiges témoignant d’un découpage des champs pour délimiter des parcelles.
https://www.inrap.fr/une-occupation-de-l-age-du-bronze-ancien-formigny-la-bataille-calvados-16489