09 SEPTEMBRE 2022 NEWS
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ECOSSE – 
Lephin on Mull - Archaeologists are preparing to investigate two possible Viking boat burial sites on the Isle of Mull. Two elongated mounds on the Hebridean island are to be evaluated as part of a series of digs later this month. Boat burials involved high-ranking Vikings being interred with a ship, and in Scotland a site was previously found and excavated in Ardnamurchan. On Mull, archaeologists will check to see whether the mounds near Lephin are natural features or burial sites. Archaeologists said during the late 12th and first half of the 13th Century there was a thriving farm at Lephin. Middens, or rubbish dumps, were found at the site and contained burnt grains, metal objects and fragments of pottery. Dr Ellis said it would be interesting to discover whether descendants of Vikings arriving on Mull in the 8th and 9th centuries continued to live and farm on the island in the Norse period of around the 10th and 11th centuries.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-62794761
ISRAEL – 
Jerusalem - For the first time; archaeologists have uncovered rare pieces of ivory from the First Temple period that provide more clues about life in that ancient Bible time.The decorative pieces help experts continue to put together the historic puzzle of Jerusalem from more than 2500 years ago.“We found the complete Corpus of small ivory plate inlays that used to decorate large wooden furniture, for example, beds or doors or something like that,” Israel Antiquities Authority Archaeologist Dr. Yiftah Shalev tells CBN News, adding that it was the first time such items were found in Jerusalem or Judea. “We know of such items from other large capitals from the Iron Age, from the First Temple period,” says Shalev.The discovery of some 1,500 tiny pieces happened at the sprawling City of David dig site in the ruins of a large palatial building that would have been in use as far back as 800 BC. Shalev says it’s not clear how the ivory pieces arrived in Jerusalem.“They might come as part of trade. Or, even more likely, came as [a] gift between peer quality interaction. Maybe one of the elite families in Assyria gave [a] business gift for the local elite, or something like that,” he says. Archaeologists also found seals and 15 broken jars that contained wine spiced with vanilla. Given these discoveries, Shalev says, it’s clear the residents were part of elite Jerusalem and well connected to the royal family.
POLOGNE – 
Pie - In Pie, Poland, a graveyard from the 17th century contained the remains of a "female vampire," according to archaeologists. While excavating, the archaeologists discovered a woman's skeleton who had been tied to the ground with a sickle across her neck. The sickle was not set straight but placed on the neck in such a way that if the victim had tried to rise up... the head would have been chopped off or wounded. In the 1600s, superstitious Poles frequently used the common farming tools to prevent a dead person who was thought to be a vampire from returning from the grave. According to the Smithsonian magazine, individuals in Eastern Europe in the 11th century held the belief that "some people who had died will claw their way out of the dead as blood-sucking monsters that tormented the living.”The deceased woman was interred wearing a silk hat, a costly item in the 17th century. According to the New York Post, the "female vampire" was found in Pie, a village in the south of the country, seven years after the bodies of five other alleged vampires were found 130 miles away in the town of Drawsko.
CHINE – 
Sanxingdui - In one of China’s richest and grandest archeological sites, a very large statue of a mythical beast cast in bronze has been found. The site at Sanxingdui, or Three Star Mound, has yielded hundred of bronze statues which some archeologists have described as more impressive than the Terracotta Army, and this latest find contributes aspects of size and majesty to the collection. Weighing 330 pounds (150) kilos, the bronze beasty was found on last Wednesday. Its shape is characteristic of many smaller figurines already produced at Sanxingdui, but this one is the largest. This new mythical beast was found in sacrificial pit 8. As well as being the largest, it’ also been preserved with a tall thin man standing right atop the beasts’ horns, which the team suspects indicates control. Another feature unique to this beast is a sacred tree engraved on its chest. “The tree is engraved directly on it and can be seen as Sanxingdui people’s worship of the sacred tree, or has taken the sacred tree as a kind of divine presence.
INDE – 
Maligaimedu - A broken piece of decorative ivory bearing a human figurine has been unearthed from Maligaimedu near Gangaikondacholapuram in the district. The object, weighing 1.100 grams, 0.5mm in thickness, 1.8 cm in height and 1.5 cm in width, and made of ivory is the second important remnant excavated from the site. The first discovery, a broken piece of bracelet made of gold and copper, was unearthed in February 2022. The ivory object was found at a depth of 55-60 cm. The broken part shows the hip and the thigh of a human figure. In particular it may refer to a royal figure. It will be revealed only after examination.”“Objects made of gold and ivory combined indicate that there was a palace here. Besides, many ancient items, including iron nails, Chinese pottery and a brick structure with 22 layers, were unearthed from the site,” the TNSDA official added.
GEORGIE – 
Orozmani - The latest discovery provides more evidences that the mountainous south Caucasus area was likely one of the first human settlements outside Africa. Archaeologists in Georgia have found a 1.8-million-year-old tooth belonging to an early species of human which they say cements the region as the home of one of the earliest prehistoric human settlements in Europe, possibly anywhere outside Africa. The tooth was discovered near the village of Orozmani, around 100 km southwest of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, near Dmanisi where human skulls dated to 1.8 million years old, were found in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Dmanisi finds were the oldest such discovery anywhere in the world outside Africa and one which changed scientists' understanding of early human evolution and migration patterns. The latest discovery at a site 20 km away provides yet more evidence that the mountainous south Caucasus area was likely one of the first places early humans settled after migrating out of Africa, experts said."Orozmani, together with Dmanisi, represents the centre of the oldest distribution of old humans - or early Homo - in the world outside Africa," the National Research Centre of Archaeology and Prehistory of Georgia said, announcing the discovery of the tooth on Thursday.
TURQUIE – 
Ayanis - An intact bronze plate believed to be used as a wall ornament by the royal Urartian family has been unearthed during the ongoing excavations at Ayanis Castle in eastern Türkiye. The castle, which overlooks the scenic Lake Van roughly 200 meters (about 655 feet) below, is one of the most magnificent structures remaining from the Urartu Kingdom with its decorations, mud-brick walls and stone engravings that managed to survive to date in the Tuşba district of Van. Digging and restoration work at the site of the structure built during the reign of King Rusa II (680-639 B.C.) have been ongoing for over three decades. Four new interconnected rooms were unearthed on the northern slope of the hill on which the castle is being excavated. Many findings, particularly ceramics, were uncovered in the rooms. Numerous groups of wooden structures were also found. These provide us with important information on the details of the Urartian architecture, but we haven't yet determined what the rooms were used for. Excited by the "unique" bronze wall plate found in one of the rooms, Işıklı said it was the only specimen of its kind that has been unearthed in one piece, unlike fragments that had been found on other occasions. The plate was likely used as an architectural embelishment
TURQUIE – 
Troie - In the ancient city of Troy, within the boundaries of the village of Tevfikiye village in the center of northwestern Çanakkale province, the remains of a 3,700-year-old domed oven bearing the characteristics of Anatolian culture have been found.
MEXIQUE – 
Quintana Roo - The federal government has announced the discovery of an “impressive” archaeological site along the route of the Maya Train railroad in Quintana Roo. Diego Prieto, director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), said that the site has more than 300 buildings, some of which are over 8 meters high. “Engineering adjustments are being made to the southern part of section 5 [of the railroad] in order to protect an impressive archaeological site that we’ve recognized as Paamul II,” he told President López Obrador’s regular news conference on Thursday morning.
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/inah-archaeological-discovery-maya-train/
TURQUIE – 
Savatra - For the first time in the pre-Islamic Early period Turkish history, an inscription bearing the inscription expression “Turk” and written “Turkoglu” in the Greek alphabet was found at the excavation site of the Ancient City of Savatra in Konya, Turkey.Saying that the inscription from the 10th-11th century AC is proof of the Turkish presence in Anatolia before 1071. This is evidence that shows the presence of Christianized Turks here before the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, that is before the Islamic banner was brought here by the Turks. The inscription was brought from a castle belonging to the ancient city of Savatra. This castle has been used until the Byzantine period. When we look at the architectural part, it is the Byzantine period templon pier. This is an architectural element found in religious buildings. When we look at it from a periodical point of view, we think that it coincides with the 10th or 11th centuries AD. When we look at the content, it also appears as an article belonging to the pre-Islamic Turks. This is a sign that reveals the existence of the Turks who converted to Christianity before Islam.