09 OCTOBRE 2018: Exmoor - Kirkby Thore - Inner Mongolia - Laodicea - Cesseras - Novae -
INSTITUT SUPERIEUR D'ANTHROPOLOGIE
INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY
ONLINE COURSES / COURS A DISTANCE
FALL TERM : OCTOBER 2018
REGISTER NOW
ROYAUME UNI – 
Exmoor - Jack Fuller, the intern who carried out the investigation, said: “Exmoor’s standing stones are more than 4000 years old, yet we’re still discovering new things all the time. The survey included more than 140 sites, and even lead to the discovery of new stones, which just goes to show how much more there still is to learn about Exmoor’s fascinating past.” It’s thought Exmoor’s standing stone monuments originate from sometime between the Late Neolithic and early Bronze Age (c.3000-1500 BCE). Many are under half a metre tall, with some barely protruding the surface of the turf and include rows, circles and a variety of other shapes.
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/results-archaeological-research-exmoor-set-2087822
ROYAUME UNI – 
Kirkby Thore - The route of the modern A66 roughly follows an important Roman road which linked the Roman forts and settlements of Cumbria with the Roman forts and settlements of North Yorkshire, passing by through the vicus (or village) that lay just outside the Roman Fort of Bravoniacum, which lies below modern-day Kirkby Thore. GUARD excavation director John-James Atkinson said:Not only have we revealed the foundations of the Roman road but we have revealed traces of timber buildings that lay adjacent to the Roman road to the south-west of the fort. While the timber has long since rotted away, the construction of these buildings has left post-holes and pits from which we have recovered a variety of Roman pottery sherds. The sherds include Samian pottery from Roman Gaul which was once used as fine tableware for rich and well-connected soldiers and citizens, amphorae which may have once held wine or olive oil from the Mediterranean as well as more common greyware and coarse ware that was made in Roman Britain itself.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/roman-settlement-discovered-during-a66-eden-valley-works
CHINE - Inner Mongolia - Archeologists in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have found five sites of beacon towers dating back around 2,000 years, local cultural heritage bureau said Sunday. Beacon towers are part of a military defense system used in ancient China to pass military signals by smoke and fire. China's well-known Great Wall features thousands of such towers. The towers found in Inner Mongolia are believed to date back to Han Dynasty (202 B.C.- 220 A.D.) and were part of the two existing tower lines found earlier in the region, according to Li Xiaowei with local cultural heritage bureau. "They are of great significance in studying local history and culture," said Li, adding that the bureau has rolled out plans to preserve the relics. The towers were found during an inspection on relics in the western part of Helan Mountain in the region. Archeologists also found three sites of rock paintings dating back to Qing Dynasty (1644 A.D. to 1912 A.D.) during the trip.
http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2018-10/08/content_65265911.htm
TURQUIE – 
Laodicea - ituated in the province of Denizli, Laodicea on the Lycus was an ancient metropolis within the borders of Turkey. The city was a largely unknown archaeological site before 2003 but after the excavation works were initiated by the Denizli Museum, the city was brought to light. Ancient sources say that the city was founded in honor of Laodice, the wife of Seleucid King Antiochus II Theos, in the third century B.C. However, excavations revealed that the history of Laodicea dates back to 5,500 B.C. The city had its golden period between the first and third centuries A.D. According to the calculations, the city's population was around 80,000 during that period. Considering that ancient cities of Hierapolis and Tripolis had populations around 40 thousand, Laodicea was a metropolis. Laodicea also had one of the seven churches of Asia mentioned in the Book of Revelation. The seventh one is the Laodicea Church. For institutional archaeology, it is of critical importance to detect, restore and protect the church, which dates back to the period of Constantine. In 2002, a new round of systematic archaeological work began in Laodicea. A team of Turkish archaeologists, led by Professor Celal Şimşek from Pamukkale University, has been working in Laodicea continuously since 2003. The archaeological research shed light on the connections between past and present. They showed that Denizli was an important commercial and industrial city for thousands of years. It was found that the textiles produced in the city were exported from all around the world and the marble trade was enabled through the channel of the lake in the plains and the Büyük Menderes River, and grains and animal products were abundant in the region. The group unearthed the world's longest and most thorough ancient "water law" in Laodicea in 2015. Dedicated to Roman Emperor Traianus, this inscription consists of 30 lines and has characteristics to be presented to the World Water Forum. It is significant as it is the longest and most thorough inscription, including subjects such as the preservation and systematic distribution of water sources and honesty of the people distributing water. Excavation works are conducted at the Peristyle House with Oratory and North (Sacred) Agora part in the site this year. The excavator group sustaining the works discovered that the internal section of the travertine blocs in Agora was completely adorned with frescoes. They are gradually restoring the internal section in a systematic way.
FRANCE – 
Cesseras - Ce sont des spécialistes parmi les meilleurs au monde : trois pisteurs de Namibie explorent les traces de nos ancêtres dans une galerie de la grotte de l'Aldène à Cesseras, entre Hérault et Aude. Et soudain, un claquement de langue rompt le silence millénaire. De ce langage si caractéristique du peuple San, Ui Kxunta livre son analyse. "Il y a eu là deux jeunes gens qui ont marché côte à côte. Un garçon et une fille", traduit Philippe Galant, archéologue de la Drac Occitanie. Pendant une semaine, trois pisteurs venus de la brousse de Namibie explorent avec précaution une galerie de la grotte de l’Aldène, située à Cesseras, dans les gorges de la Cesse entre Hérault et Aude. C’est là, à quarante mètres sous terre, que quelque 400 empreintes de pas préhistoriques ont été retrouvées au milieu du XXe siècle. "Il existe une quarantaine de sites dans le monde, trente en Europe, qui cachent des pas humains. Mais trois seulement sont majeurs, par le nombre d’empreintes et le développement des pistes : les grottes de Burgos en Espagne et de Niaux en Ariège, en plus de celle de l’Aldène, dont la particularité est d’avoir préservé un linéaire de trente mètres", chuchote Philippe Galant. L’archéologie dite classique a déjà démontré que ces empreintes sont vieilles de 8 000 ans, notamment parce que nos ancêtres ont laissé, sur les murs, des traces de combustion de branches de genévriers qui faisaient office de torches. Les trois pisteurs namibiens vont permettre d’aller plus loin dans l’analyse. "Ce sont incontestablement les meilleurs spécialistes de traces au monde. En Namibie, c’est un savoir-faire multiséculaire, ils apprennent très jeunes à regarder par terre, pour retrouver leur famille ou pour chasser. Avec de simples traces de pas, ils arrivent à déterminer le profil des individus passés par là, leur âge, leur poids, s’ils étaient pressés, s’ils ont marché prudemment. En fait, ils font revivre les pas, recréent l’instant. C’est extraordinaire", s’enthousiasme l’archéologue.
BULGARIE – 
Novae - Une équipe dirigée par Agnieszka Tomas de l’Institut d’archéologie de l’Université de Varsovie a exhumé deux tombes découvertes près de Novae, un camp de légion romaine dans le nord de la Bulgarie, selon le journal Science en Pologne. «Les personnes enterrées dans les tombes que nous avons découvertes étaient probablement associées à la légion romaine – peut-être même à des soldats», a déclaré Agnieszka Tomas, en se basant sur les parties métalliques des boucles de ceinture et des rivets de chaussures militaires trouvés dans les sépultures.Les artefacts en métal montrent des signes de brûlure, probablement lors d’une cérémonie de crémation à un autre endroit. Les os ont ensuite été placés dans des boîtes en bois fixées avec des clous en fer pour l’enterrement. Les archéologues ont également trouvé des cruches en poterie contenant des résidus de vin, des lampes et des pièces de monnaie portant des images d’empereurs romains. « Une pièce de monnaie a été donnée pour le chemin vers l’au-delà, parce qu’on croyait que le défunt devrait traverser une rivière et le passeur s’attendrait à être payé », a déclaré Tomas. Les restes humains et les offrandes funéraires ont finalement été recouverts de grandes plaques de céramique formant une structure en forme de toit.
https://zonesofia.com/2018/10/un-tombeau-de-soldat-romains-decouvert-dans-le-nord-du-pays/