14 MAI 2014 NEWS: Delos - Edinburgh - Nedumala Cave - Tel Shiloh - Constanța - Cracovie - Dublin - Wigtownshire - Delft - Sofia -
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GRECE -
Delos - The island of Delos, in the Aegean Sea, Greece, located within a stone’s throw of the cosmopolitan island of Mykonos, is an imposing place devoid of vegetation but extremely beautiful. It was considered the sacred island of ancient Greece as it was the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. What makes Delos one of the most important archaeological places in Greece is that it is the only place where ancient residences have been found in a great situation. Archaeological researches have revealed churches, theaters, stadiums, gyms and other monumental buildings in many places. Moreover, in some areas, such as Pella and Eretria, archaeologists have found foundations of houses and mosaic floors, but unfortunately the houses themselves are not preserved. In Delos, on the contrary, they are perfectly maintained giving us a clear picture of the architecture, the interior design, the materials used, the decoration of the walls, the sewerage system etc. All houses in Delos date back to the 2nd and early 1st century BC, when the Romans gave the Greek island to the Athenians. Researches showed that the homes of plebeians and patricians were next to each other. Although there didn’t appear to exist a single type of private home, most homes, especially the larger and more affluent, followed a basic design, with several variations. According to mythology, Delos was created with a thrust of Poseidon’s trident. Zeus tied the island to the seabed with a diamond chain so that Leto could refuge there and give birth to Artemis and Apollo.
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2014/05/14/delos-the-greek-island-archaeology-buffs-will-love/
ROYAUME UNI – 
Edinburgh - Council chiefs are inviting residents and enthusiasts to help excavate the site of a mansion in Saughton Park. Saughton Hall – known as “Sauch” – is thought to have been built in the early 17th century and was demolished in the 1950s. Now experts hope to discover more about the history of the house and its grounds as part of a larger project to restore Saughton Park to its former glory. The park once rivalled the Royal Botanic Garden and
attracted 3.5 million people to the Scottish National Exhibition in 1908.Records show the mansion had served for a time as a “private lunatic asylum” and during the Second World War was a convalescent home for members of the Women’s Land Army. The estate hosted the Royal Highland Show Fair in 1920 and historians say in medieval times the area was likely to have been the focus of industrial activity.
INDE - Nedumala Cave - Giving a boost to the demands of local people for conservation of Nedumala Cave, Pilarimattom, near here, relics from the megalithic culture were found in the cave by a team of Archaeological experts. V Sanal Kumar, archaeological researcher who led the team, said several microliths, small stone tool used in Megalithic culture and other relics, have been unearthed from the cave. In the state, several Megalithic relics, including microliths, were found earlier by archaeologists mainly in Palakkad, Kannur, Malappuram, Wayanad, Kottayam, Kollam and Thiruvanathapuram. But it is for the first time that such a discovery is being made in the district.“We have found nearly 12 microliths in the cave apart from other relics and it is definite that men from the Megalithic culture lived there. The presence of Thodupuzha river backs the possibility,” he added. According to Sanal, the cave should be have over 10,000-years old as the microliths are a minimum 6,000 years old.
ISRAËL/ PALESTINE – 
Tel Shiloh - The Mateh Binyamin Regional Council has commenced construction at the archaeological site of Tel Shiloh, despite the fact that building plans there have not yet been approved. The local council claims that work at the site is legitimate since it is conducted according to an existing plan. Nevertheless it ordered a stop to construction after archaeologists, strongly opposed to the plan, threatened to lodge a complaint.Tel Shiloh is one of the most important ancient sites in Judea and Samaria. Tradition has it that the Ark of the Covenant was placed there before being transported to Jerusalem. Excavations have discovered multiple layers, dating back to the Bronze and Iron ages, as well as the classical, Byzantine and Muslim periods. The site is managed and developed by the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council.
http://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium-1.590472
ROUMANIE – Constanța - Several tombs dating from III – VI AD were discovered in Constanța, the oldest still-populated city in Romania. The discovery was accidental, made by crews working on the foundation of a house on Griviţa Street, not far from the main Post Station. The National Museum of History and Archaeology was promptly informed, and the site was closed for further archaeological investigation. Local archaeologists Octavian Mitroi and Constantin Şova supervised the project, which unearthed 12 tombs, some of which are early Christian. Bones and remains unearthed at the site were transported to the National Museum of History and Archaeology for analysis. The workers may resume construction work on the house foundation after all archaeological discoveries are safely removed from the site. The 12 tombs were discovered in an area known to have been a former cemetery in Tomis, the historic city, which was founded in 600 BC. The area is very large, stretching from the center to the seafront. The National Museum of History and Archaeology has so far failed to reveal when the remains will be available for public viewing, or where they will be exhibited.
http://www.argophilia.com/news/archaeological-discovery-constanta/214526/
POLOGNE – 
Cracovie - Jagiellonian University is the oldest university in Poland and one of the oldest in Europe. It boasts a centuries-old tradition, but goes with the times. The motto, "Plus ratio quam vis" means "Reason (means) more than force". Since 1817, the university used the name of the Jagiellonian University, in honour of the Jagiellonian dynasty. Previous names include the University of Kraków, Kraków Academy, The Main Crown School, and Main School of Kraków. The history of the university goes back to 1364 when, after many years of efforts for permission of the Pope, King Casimir III the Great founded an institution called Studium Generale. Modelled on the University of Bologna, it was the second - after the university in Prague - institution of this type in Central Europe. The actual operations began a few years later. The original location was probably the Wawel Castle. Initially, it had three faculties: law, medicine and liberal arts. The fourth and most prestigious at that time - theology - was added in 1400. After the death of King Casimir in 1370, the university stopped working. Only after 30 years, thanks to the efforts of Queen Jadwiga, it resumed operations as a full medieval university. The professors chose of the co-creator of ideas of modern international law Stanisław of Skarbimierz as the first rector. Colleges where professors lived and dormitories for students were built. The university was the institution of the church, supervised by the Bishop of Kraków. The fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth are the golden age of Kraków Academy. Its reputation attracted students from all over Europe. Approximately 44 percent of all students were foreigners. It was the period of renaissance of mathematical, astronomical and geographical sciences. Copernicus created heliocentric theory, and Maciej Miechowita published the "Tractatus de duabus Sarmatiis…", the first systematic description of the lands between the Vistula, the Don and the Caspian Sea. The introduction of teaching Greek and Hebrew languages was a sensation on the European scale.
http://www.naukawpolsce.pap.pl/en/news/news,400352,650-years-of-the-jagiellonian-university.html
USA – 
Dublin - 14 Ohio State University students in her archaeology class sat in a field cataloging and bagging 400 or more “flecks” of rocks amid a sea of red flags where each had been found.“This is essentially prehistoric trash from making tools,” said Logan Miller, Angel’s rock specialist and a doctoral graduate student The field that will become an office park in a few years slopes north from the roadway construction toward tree-lined Wright’s Run, a tributary of the Scioto River.Dublin city workers had plowed the field, bringing to the surface flint and chert quartz rocks, which have a dense, crystalline composition that breaks predictably and were favored by ancient tool-makers. The oldest item — 13,000 years — was found last year, the first year that Angel brought students there for a field study. This year, they have found a couple of items perhaps as old as 500 years. The age is determined by comparing each find with a similar item found elsewhere that has been dated. Where there is a cluster of flags, the students will dig 6-by-6-foot “square holes” in hopes of finding finished tools and other evidence that people lived there, said Angel. On the other side of Wright’s Run, the city is to transform the Holder-Wright farm into an interpretive park that has remnants of several Hopewell earthworks and an 1840s farmhouse. The Hopewell culture included many Indian tribes present in Ohio between 500 B.C. and A.D. 500.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/05/11/flecks-of-history.html
ROYAUMU UNI – Wigtownshire - An Iron Age village plus a host of ancient artefacts including tools and jewellery have been discovered on a construction site. The finds were made by teams working on the £17 million A75 Dunragit bypass in Wigtownshire. Tools, arrowheads, urns and bead necklaces from the Mesolithic (9000 BC to 4500 BC), Neolithic (4500 BC to 2000 BC), Bronze (2500 BC to 800 BC) and Iron Ages (800 BC to 500 AD) were found, along with the Iron Age village and a Bronze Age cemetery.
PAYS-BAS – 
Delft - Archaeologists have unearthed what is thought to be the oldest telescope ever found in the Netherlands during excavations near the railway in Delft. The metal tube, which is around 10 cm long, will have pride of place in the city's Prinsenhof museum which is being reopened by king Willem-Alexander on May 23. Experts think the telescope was made in the first half of the 17th century. Delft and Middleburg had an important role in the development of lenses and telescopes in the late 16th and early 17th century. The oldest telescopes currently in the Netherlands date from the second half of the 17th century and are both in the Christiaan Huygens collection.
http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2014/05/hollands_oldest_telescope_unea.php?
BULGARIE – 
Sofia - A set of golden antique coins have been uncovered during the road construction work at Sofia's Maria Luisa and Slinvitsa boulevards, by Luvov Most (Lion's Bridge). The coins will be given to the Sofia History Museum, the director of the Municipal Cultural Institute revealed for Focus agency. For the time being, archaeologists will not be allowed to conduct further excavations, since the site poses a risk for their lives. This can happen only after a special commission analyzes the site and drafts a report. The trestlework at the intersecting boulevards is also temporarily stopped.
http://www.novinite.com/articles/160529/Antique+Coins+Uncovered+During+Sofia+Road+Construction
