14 FEVRIER 2021 NEWS
INSTITUT SUPERIEUR D'ANTHROPOLOGIE
INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY
ONLINE COURSES / COURS A DISTANCE
SPRING TERM : APRIL 2021
REGISTER NOW
FRANCE – Marsoulas cave - A conch shell found during the excavation of a cave with prehistoric wall paintings in France is believed to be the oldest known seashell instrument - and it still works. The large shell was discovered in 1931 during the uncovering of the cave in the French Pyrenees, and was assumed to be a ceremonial drinking cup. After sitting in a museum for decades, researchers took a fresh look and determined it had been modified thousands of years ago to become a wind instrument. They invited a French horn player to play it, producing a deep, plaintive sound like a foghorn from the distant past. Archaeologists from the University of Toulouse estimate it to be around 18,000 years old. They published their findings in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday. Conch shells have been used widely in musical and ceremonial traditions, including in ancient Greece, Japan, India and Peru. The shell instrument found in the Marsoulas cave is now the oldest known example. Previously, a conch shell instrument found in Syria had been dated to about 6,000 years old. The researchers noticed some unusual holes in the shell. Crucially, the tip of the shell was broken off, creating a hole large enough to blow through. Microscopic inspection revealed the opening was the result of deliberate craftsmanship, not accidental wear . By inserting a tiny medical camera, they found that another hole had been carefully drilled in the shell's inner chamber. They also detected traces of red pigment on the mouth of the conch, matching a decorative pattern found on the wall of Marsoulas cave.
CHINE - 
Liujiawa - In 2017 and 2018, scholars led by Yimin Yang of Beijing’s Chinese Academy of Sciences were examining a 2,700-year-old nobleman’s tomb at the Liujiawa archaeological site in northern China when they discovered something odd: a small bronze jar filled with yellow-white lumps. As Michael Marshall reports for New Scientist, Yang and his colleagues drew on chemical analyses to identify the material inside the jar as a type of face cream—one of, if not the, earliest known examples of a Chinese man using cosmetics. Their findings, published this month in the journal Archaeometry, suggest the elite individual was interred at Liujiawa during the Spring and Autumn period (771–476 B.C.).According to a Nature news brief, the concoction was made out of animal fat and moonmilk, a cream-colored, mud-like substance found in limestone caves. Transformed into a dry powder upon its extraction from the roof of a cave, moonmilk maintains its stark white color when combined with animal fat and applied to the face.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-find-2700-year-old-facial-cream-180976973/
FRANCE – 
Magalas -Dans la commune de Magalas, la colline de Montfo est connue depuis le début du XXe siècle pour abriter les vestiges d'un oppidum important, fréquenté depuis le premier âge du Fer (VIIIe siècle avant notre ère) jusqu'aux lendemains du changement d'ère. Suite à des fouilles qui avaient dégagé en 2013 un important sanctuaire public du Ier siècle de notre ère, l'Inrap vient de mettre à jour un espace funéraire du Ve siècle avant notre ère et un établissement agricole périurbain de la période romaine. Sur le site des Hauts de Montfo, les recherches archéologiques ont permis de révéler un grand espace rectangulaire (13 x 8 m), identifié comme un possible lieu funéraire rituel protohistorique. Cet espace est un « enclos fossoyé », c’est-à-dire qu’il est délimité par quatre fossés. Orientée vers l’est, cette grande structure est subdivisée en deux parties par deux petites fosses opposées. L’entrée dans l’enclos se faisait probablement par un passage situé entre deux fossés à l’est. Les restes d’un bûcher funéraire ont été mis au jour dans la partie orientale de l’enclos. Il a livré les restes de vases d’offrande au défunt, dont des restes de vases grecs, des éléments de bronze fondu, peut-être des éléments de bijoux ou de parure, et des éléments de tabletterie en os, attribués à la décoration du lit mortuaire. En façade ouest de l’enclos, la présence de dalles en grès et d’indices sur leur mise en place verticale laissent supposer l’existence d’une sorte de muret, dispositif installé dans le fossé occidental. Les informations dont disposent les archéologues sont pour le moment lacunaires, mais l’étude permettra peut-être d’en préciser la fonction. Outre le sanctuaire protohistorique, les recherches archéologiques ont révélé un établissement agricole daté du Ier siècle avant au IIe siècle de notre ère couvrant environ 1500 m². Il est composé de plusieurs corps de bâtiments largement voués aux infrastructures de production.
Plusieurs grands pressoirs en bois ont été reconnus au travers des profondes fosses creusées pour y fixer solidement les châssis. Les leviers de ces puissantes machines disparues étaient mus à l’aide d’un treuil ou d’une vis. Ils étaient destinés à la production de vin et, plus hypothétiquement, à celle d’huile d’olive.
CANADA – 
Seize iles - Un vase huron intact, vieux de 500 ans. Un vase iroquoien, cassé en deux celui-ci, mais vieux de 700 ans. Ce ne sont là que quelques-uns des trésors découverts par Jean-Louis Courteau, lors de ses plongées dans le lac des Seize Îles. Les trésors dénichés par le CIEL permettent d’apercevoir l’histoire perdue des Laurentides. Le vase huron par exemple, découvert en 2013, date de l’époque pré-contact : avant l’arrivée des Européens en Amérique. Il s’agit aussi d’un des rares vases intacts qui existe encore. Autre fait notable : c’était les Weskarinis, des nomades de la grande famille algonquine, qui occupaient alors le territoire. Mais les deux vases trouvés sont huron et iroquoien. Pour M. Courteau, c’est une autre preuve des échanges qui s’opéraient entre les différents peuples autochtones.
https://www.journalacces.ca/les-tresors-engloutis-du-lac-des-seize-iles/
ISRAEL - 
Ramle - A recent discovery by archeologists from the Hebrew University and the University of Haifa alongside a team from the Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France have uncovered evidence of what may be the earliest-known use of symbols. The symbols were found on a bone fragment in the Ramle region in central Israel and are believed to be approximately 120,000 years old. Remarkably the fragment remained largely intact and the researchers were able to detect six similar etchings on one side of the bone, leading them to believe that they were in the possession of something which held symbolic or spiritual significance. The find, which was recently published in the scientific journal Quaternary International, was discovered in a trove of flint tools and animal bones exposed at a site during archaeological excavations.
https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2021/02/120000-year-old-bone-etchings-believed.html
INDE – 
Bastihalli - A distinctive Hoysala style monument was discovered during the excavation conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India, at Bastihalli, the popular Jain pilgrim site in Halebid, Hassan district. A distinctive foundation with Jain sculptures was discovered at the site.
TURQUIE – 
Stratonikeia - A 1550-year-old former Byzantine church's base ground in an ancient city in southwestern Turkey was unearthed as part of excavation efforts. The church's base ground, which was unearthed as part of excavation efforts in Stratonikeia ancient city in Mugla province, is being renovated with colored marbles found during excavation work. Sogut said the excavation team reached the church which was built after an earthquake in 365 AD. He added the church remained to the first quarter of the 7th century; later, the area was used as a cemetery. He said that they carried out most of the excavations in the area called West Street of the city, adding, "Here, a church was built on the colonnaded street. Later, when the church was destroyed, the area was turned into a cemetery in the Byzantine period, in the 7th century AD."
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/turkey-1-550-year-old-churchs-base-ground-unearthed/2140674