09 AOÛT 2016 NEWS: Parion - Tal Ajaja - Yinshan - Cap Rouge - La Grange - Brie Comte Robert -
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TURQUIE – 
Parion - The customs center in Parion, an ancient port city from the Hellenistic era located in the northwestern province of Çanakkale’s Biga district, is being unearthed this season. The head of the excavations, Ondokuz Mayıs University (OMU) Archaeology Department’s Prof. Vedat Keleş, as well as 12 archaeologists, one epigraph, an architect, a restorer, seven conservators and 32 students from 10 different universities, are working in the ancient city this season. Work was set to continue in the city’s Roman theater, Roman bath, agora and stores, odeion, southern necropolis and aqueduct. Keleş said that they would also work in chamber graves that had been discovered in previous seasons. Parion is located within the boundaries of Kemer village in Biga. It is on the rugged terrain of the Bodrum Cape along the coast of the Marmara Sea. Parion was first mentioned by ancient narrators Herodotos and Ksenophon, and later by Strabon. English archaeologist Philipp Hunt discovered that Parion was located in Kemer village, taking into consideration the abundance of ancient coins which were unearthed during the archaeological surface studies conducted at the Troy site in 1801. After detailed research, the location of Parion was confirmed by a classical archaeologist W. Leaf in 1911. Inscriptions found in Parion in 2014 revealed that the city was the most important colonial city in the region, and perhaps all of Anatolia. They also provided important clues about economic, military and architectural activities in the area, which were supported by theater excavations.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?pageID=238&nid=102600
SYRIE – 
Tal Ajaja - When the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) captured Tal Ajaja, one of Syria’s most important Assyrian-era sites, they discovered previously unknown millennia-old statues and cuneiform tablets, and then they destroyed them. The extremist group, which has ravaged archeological sites under its control in Syria and Iraq, was chased from Tal Ajaja in northeastern Hasakeh province in February by Kurdish fighters. But the destruction ISIL wrought there over two years remains. Perched on a large hill around 50 kilometers from the Iraqi border, the site is now a vision of desolation, riven with long tunnels. Fragments of broken artifacts are strewn throughout and large holes dug by looters pockmark the ground. The Assyrian empire, with its capital in Nineveh in modern-day Iraq, flourished in the 1st millennium BC. It produced celebrated artifacts, particularly bas-reliefs often depicting scenes of war. “Tal Ajaja, or ancient Shadikanni, was one of the main cities of Assyria,” said Cheikhmous Ali of the Association for the Protection of Syrian Archeology. “More than 40 percent of Tal Ajaja was destroyed or ravaged by [ISIL],” added Khaled Ahmo, director of the antiquities department in Hasakeh. “The tunnels that were dug destroyed invaluable archeological strata” that would have revealed the economic, social and political history of the era, he said.
CHINE – Yinshan - Over 1,000 cliff paintings dating back more than 1,000 years and featuring animals and people have been discovered by archaeologists in northern China. The paintings found in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region are believed to have been engraved by the ancient tribal people known as the Tujue, and the Dangxiang, of which the modern day Qiang are descended from, about 1,000 to 1,500 years ago, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The paintings are surprisingly well preserved, and feature sheep, camels, elks, tigers, wolves and people hunting, the report quoted Liu Bin, head of the Cultural Relics Bureau of Urad Middle Banner, as saying on August 5. The new findings are among many found across the Yinshan mountain range, and will greatly inform research into ancient nomadic people, he added. Over 10,000 ancient cliff paintings have been discovered in the Yinshan Mountains.
CANADA – Cap Rouge - The remains of the first colony in Canada and the United States is in Cap Rouge, 20 kilometres west of Old Quebec. Sixty-five years before Quebec City was founded, two French explorers attempted to make this piece of land home. The area was already inhabited by First Nations and the confrontation with the settlers led to the death of some of Jacques Cartier’s men. Cartier packed up and set sail back to France, but he crossed paths with Roberval who convinced him to come back and rebuild. Today, visitors can see the colony for themselves. “They walk in the same place where Cartier and Roberval walked in 1541 – 1543, so it’s very special to know that this is the place where the New France begins,” said Corriveau. The colony, now a protected archaeological site, was discovered in 2005. Corriveau is one of the archaeologists who dug out over 6,000 artifacts.
VIDEO = http://globalnews.ca/news/2867782/canadas-first-colony-open-to-public/
FRANCE – La Grange - Étudiants, bénévoles… Tous ont mis les mains dans la terre à la recherche d'indices. Tout a débuté autour de la maison d'un habitant voisin, à quelques centaines de mètres du pré dont il est d'ailleurs le propriétaire. « Il y a des motifs décorés autour de sa maison, avec des dauphins notamment, explique l'archéologue. On savait que ça venait de ce champ. » Après des investigations par géoradar (c'est-à-dire la lecture du sous-sol par magnétisme), le groupe a débuté les recherches. « L'idée est de comprendre ce qu'était ce grand bâtiment », continue le chercheur. Au fil de ces deux semaines, les archéologues ont, petit à petit, dévoilé les vestiges de ce qui pourrait être un sanctuaire, une villa, ou même une ville. « On est sûr de rien, ce ne sont que des hypothèses, avoue Raphaël Gestreau. Au vu des éléments trouvés, nous sommes certainement dans un contexte thermal de la fin de la période antique ». En effet, dans ce qui reste de ce bâtiment de 14 mètres composé de plusieurs pièces décorées et d'un couloir, les chercheurs ont trouvé enduits peints, mobiliers métalliques, céramiques et même une bague… Plus intéressant encore, ils ont dévoilé un bassin, « qui pouvait peut-être contenir de l'eau froide », avec une évacuation. Plus loin, un fossé puis une terrasse ont été mis au jour. Leurs utilisations restent un mystère.
FRANCE – 
Brie-Comte-Robert - Durant des centaines d’années, les moulins étaient le centre névralgique de la vie alimentaire des Français, car chacun devait faire appel au meunier pour moudre sa farine. À Brie-Comte-Robert, l’association des Amis du vieux château espère apprendre beaucoup sur ces hauts lieux de la vie sociale grâce aux fouilles inhabituelles qu’elle mène au Grand moulin du Cornillot. « Nous espérons redécouvrir les usages du moulin, les liens que les habitants de la ville distante de près d’un kilomètre entretenaient avec lui, indique Pierrick Tigreat, l’archéologue en charge des fouilles. Ce devrait aussi être un important témoin de la transformation du paysage. » Ce moulin dont il ne reste aujourd’hui plus qu’un pan de mur a fonctionné pendant huit siècles. Une longévité exceptionnelle. « On en trouve la trace dans des écrits du XIIIe siècle et il a brûlé en 1869 », précise Pierrick Tigreat. Un incendie qui, aux yeux de ce spécialiste, a eu l’avantage de « sceller le site » en « évitant les pillages ». Depuis, ses vestiges attendent sagement sous terre que quelqu’un vienne les déterrer. un peu plus en profondeur, les bénévoles découvrent l’impressionnant système hydraulique construit au Moyen Âge. Un bassin de rétention d’eau permettait de réguler le débit d’eau qui arrivait à la roue du moulin. « À l’époque tout fonctionnait grâce à l’eau, enseigne Pierrick Tigreat. Ces aménagements très ingénieux étaient courants. »