13 MARS 2012 NEWS : Gokstadhaugen - Mechanicsville - Gloucester - Hirapur - St Albans -
INSTITUT SUPERIEUR D'ANTHROPOLOGIE
INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY
ONLINE COURSES / COURS A DISTANCE
INSCRIPTION 2012 / Session II : Avril 2012
REGISTRATION 2012 / Term II : April 2012
NORVEGE – 
Gokstadhaugen - Using a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetometer, surveys have revealed the settlement in Sandefjord in Gokstadhaugen, eastern Norway, has 15 buildings, an 80-metre long street and a port. Archaeologists from Oslo’s Museum of Cultural History and the Norwegian Institute for Cultural heritage Research (NIKU) were among those that made the discovery, in cooperation with Vestfold County. Work in Gokstadhaugen began in 2011 with drilling there, as well as experts making geophysical surveys from the sea a northwards in what is called Gokstad Valley (Gokstaddalen). NIKU’s Knut Paashe told Aftenposten, “There is no doubt that we have encountered a market town-like structure from the Viking age with houses and streets.” Further investigations of the area can now take place following archaeologists’ confirmation a Viking settlement is present. “We have identified a lot using technology. It helps us to find the location of the interesting places to dig. This means we never have to spend lots of time and money to dig where there is nothing,” county archaeologist Terje Gansum said to NRK. Last month, NTNU Museum of Natural History and Archaeology personnel discovered an H sword in Melhus as a result of construction work in the area.
http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/new-norway-viking-settlement-discovered/
USA – 
Mechanicsville - Archaeologists are deep in the forest on five acres in the Mechanicsville community of Darlington County, digging, scraping and searching for answers into life there 12,000 years ago. Questions like, "What can we learn from the artifacts that we dig up? What do they tell us about people here? What their lives were like? What were they doing here?," said Sean Taylor, Archaeologist, Department of Natural Resources. Researchers started getting answers to those questions in 1996, when they began the first excavation project on the site. It wasn't just a wooded area in 1740, the land was home to Johannes Kolb and his family. "Johannes Kolb was a German settler who came over to Pennsylvania in the early 1700's," Taylor said. "Then he came south and brought his family with him and settled on this little piece of land." But the Kolbs weren't the first settlers. Archaeologists have learned Native Americans lived on the land and left behind pottery and hunting tools buried in the ground. "Native Americans have used the site for 12,000 years . The work that we've done initially looking for Johannes Kolb and where his family lived has also shown us that the Indians have been here in historic times," said Taylor. After the Kolbs, African American slaves settled on the land.
http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=729470#.T19_XTEaMyo
ROYAUME UNI – 
Gloucester - A team of amateur archaeologists have begun digging at Greyfriars Priory in Gloucester. Archaeologists say they hope to find remains of the cloisters of the building, which dates back to the 16th Century. The dig is taking place as part of a regeneration of the former Gloscat College site which is next to Greyfriars. Archaeologist Laurie Coleman said: "The archaeology on the site is not well understood. It's an exciting opportunity for us. "We're hoping to find the cloisters or ancillary buildings associated with the site."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-17349415
INDE – Hirapur - Researchers from the city-based Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute recently unearthed four megalithic burials at Hirapur in Chandrapur district, which, the researchers say, were used for more than just burying the dead. Material evidences unearthed at the excavation sites testify that these burials or 'megaliths', dating between the 3rd and the 2nd century BC, were also worshipped by the local rural communities, and guarded with Laterite protection walls. Archaeologists said this is perhaps the first time that a megalithic structure has been found to have been worshipped. Archaeologists said the megaliths might have been erected and protected during the Asmaka Janapada or in the Satavahana periods.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-12/pune/31152337_1_megalithic-iron-ore-hirapur
ROYAUME UNI - St Albans - Wiltshire Council experts have been unlocking the secrets in five burial urns dating back to Roman times. Kelly Abbott, contract conservator with the Wiltshire Council Conservation Service, said the dusting away of years of history from the urns has uncovered bones which could be human. The five ancient burial urns dating back to the Roman conquest were found at the site of Linden Homes’ King Harry Lane development in St Albans. Foundations Archaeology, which has been working on the site for some time, enlisted the help of council experts to determine whether the remains inside the cremation urns belong to adults or children and to find out more detail about their lives. BMI The Bath Clinic in Bath allowed the team to use their CT scanner to guide the investigation into what the urns contain. Using the CT images to guide them, conservators at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham have been excavating the urns on a microscopic scale, detailing their contents and making the finds stable. Once the cremations were removed from the urns, the bones were cleaned and dried under laboratory conditions. The information gathered from this micro-excavation will then be sent to the archaeologists who will be able to interpret the evidence alongside the archaeology already discovered. Ms Abbott said: "Unlocking the mystery of these urns could provide a fascinating glimpse of life during the time of the Roman Conquest. "Two of the urns contained bones which could be human. An osteoarchaeologist will now examine the bones and help provide even more detail." The cremation urns were found at a burial ground, located at the entrance to a late Iron Age 'oppidum' or defended settlement. St Albans, known as Verulamium, was a key site in the Roman period and as such, the cremation urns, along with the other archaeology on the site, are seen to be nationally important.
