16 FEVRIER 2016 NEWS: Pooyamkutty - Apt - Sisteron - Sitabhinji - Toronto - Hampi - Fakenham -
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INDE – 
Pooyamkutty - In a major finding, a group of young archaeology enthusiasts from Jayakeralam Higher Secondary School in Pulluvazhy, Perumbavoor, has discovered a new rock art site inside the Pooyamkutty forests on the outskirts of Ernakulam district. During a field trip about two months ago, the six-member student group led by faculty member V. Sanal Kumar spotted the rock art site inside the Ezhuthala cave on Vellaramkunnu, located about 20 kilometres south west of Kothamangalam town. According to Mr. Kumar, the petroglyphs (rock engravings) bear a close resemblance to those on the walls of the Edakkal caves in Wayanad district. The primitive rock art, which consists of geometrical squares and triangles that relate to the form of sun and star, has been found engraved on a huge chunk of rock inside the nine-metre-long cave. “Alphabets of what appear to be the ancient Tamil Brahmi language have been inscribed above these engravings in seven lines and at a length of 3.90 metres using a sharp tool,” said Mr. Kumar. “Besides, several microliths and capsules belonging to the Mesolithic period have also been recovered from the site,” he said.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/rock-art-site-discovered-in-pooyamkutty/article8239294.ece
FRANCE – Apt - A Apt, les pelleteuses ont mis à jour mercredi des ossements pouvant remonter à l'époque "post antique" sur la place de la mairie. Les engins étaient là pour des travaux d'assainissement classiques. Dès les premiers coups de pelleteuse, les ouvriers ont senti quelques chose d'étrange. Les gendarmes se sont rendus sur place, comme un archéologique pour expertiser la découverte. Il s'agit de quatre crânes, remontant à une époque qui se situe entre le VIe et le IXe siècle. Ils ont donc entre 1200 et 1500 ans. Le parquet a exigé que cette place de la mairie soit remise aux archéologues. Ils vont y établir un site de fouilles.
FRANCE – 
Sisteron - On pensait qu'il s'agissait d'un mur d'habitation, il semble plutôt s'intégrer à une canalisation." Devant le site émaillé de tranchées qui jouxte l'office de tourisme, l'archéologue Soazic Bezault désigne le mur d'où tout est parti. Il est façonné avec un mortier datant vraisemblablement du IIe siècle après Jésus Christ. Sa découverte a permis d'exhumer un bâtiment appartenant à la cité antique de Segustero (Sisteron). Bâtiment qui serait une "domus", c'est-à-dire une maison de ville à l'époque romaine. "Ici nous sommes soit dans une cour intérieure, soit dans un jardin explique l'archéologue en désignant la partie du site qui longe la descente du parking vers la route. Nous y avons retrouvé des fonds d'amphores, des graines et un puits." Près du mur contemporain de l'office de tourisme en revanche se trouve un espace intérieur au sol antique composé de graviers et de mortier à la chaux. Les fragments retrouvés font penser à un foyer avec déchets, il pourrait s'agir de la cuisine. Cet endroit couvert est bordé au sud par un nouvel espace extérieur à l'identification incertaine. "Les sols sont construits, le bâtiment est assez grand. Cette maison appartenait à des personnes disposant d'un certain statut mais pas trop élevé dans l'échelle sociale". Elle daterait du haut empire, du deux voire troisième siècle après Jésus Christ avec deux niveaux d'occupation. Des parties du site ont été occupées au début de l'antiquité, abandonnées ou détruites et réoccupées à la fin de l'antiquité. "Il s'agit d'une découverte remarquable pour Sisteron. Elle nous renseigne entre autres sur les limites de sa ville antique. Nous sommes certains que ces dernières ne s'arrêtent pas à la cathédrale comme on le pensait à une époque."
INDE – 
Sitabhinji cave - The Odisha chapter of INTACH called upon the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the state government to step up conservation measures and protect the precious paintings of 6th century AD at the Sitabhinji cave in Keonjhar district.The painting depicts a royal procession with a king seated on an elephant with a sword in hand, followed by women attendants and a few horsemen. On the lower part of the painting there are verses inscribed in Sanskrit that describes the scene and its history. An engraving on a stone attributes the King to be Maharaja Disabhanja, one the earliest Bhanja king. The painting lies between two giant boulders known as Ravana Chhaya and the place is named after the stream Sita that flows nearby. It is believed that Sita took exile here and Luv and Kush were born in the cave. Pre-historic implements and tools have been discovered in abundance in this area. The discovery of a fourfaced Mukha Linga confirms the early Shaivite influence in the area. There are many rocks with Pali inscriptions, earlier soapstone figurines and Kushan coins were also excavated from the area. However, these beautiful paintings are now gradually fading away. Proper conservation of the paintings and the other archaeological finds are needed otherwise we will lose a very valuable and unique heritage site, said Tripathy.
http://www.thestatesman.com/news/odisha/sitabhinji-cave-paintings-fading/123637.html?
CANADA – 
Toronto - It has been called “one of the most important blocks of black history in Toronto,” a place where African Americans, fleeing slavery, found refuge to live, work and worship. On this tract of land, just north of Osgoode Hall, a handful of African Methodists built a small wood frame church in 1845. It served as the spiritual and political centre of the city’s growing black community, which was asserting its voice in the abolitionist movement and welcoming an influx of families seeking freedom via the Underground Railroad. Eventually, the congregation outgrew the tiny church and replaced it with a handsome brick temple. But after more than a century, membership dwindled, the congregation moved and the temple was sold off. In the late 1980s, the building was demolished to make way for a parking lot and, until last fall, the church was largely forgotten. Hundreds of thousands of artifacts have been discovered at the 0.65-hectare site — larger than a football field — near University Ave. and Dundas St. Infrastructure Ontario, the government agency overseeing construction, provided the Toronto Star with unique access to the five-month dig, considered one of the most extensive urban archeological projects in North America. Unearthed ceramics, tools, toys and remnants of clothing are helping to compose a fascinating and largely untold story of the distant origins of Toronto’s diversity.
INDE – 
Hampi - The world heritage site of Hampi is famous for its remains of the 15th century Vijayanagar empire, but now there is fresh evidence to suggest that it was also once the abode of tribes that may have migrated to it from the Indus Valley civilization which flourished between 2500 BC. and 1750 BC. Around 20 drawings from that era on a boulder atop a hill near Taalrighatta, adjacent to the river Tungabhadra in Hampi are drawing historians, anthropologists and linguists from around the world eager to know more about Hampi’s possible Indus Valley connection. "Eminent historians and anthropologists from Europe and the USA have been showing a great deal of interest in coming to Hampi after the discovery of pictographs with Sindu (Harappan) culture script in Gondi dialect on the boulder," says local tourist guide, Virupakshi. Gondi script experts have deciphered an innocuous statement -"On the goddess Kotamma temple, woollen market way, there is a rocky roof shelter for shepherds and sheep to stay the night upto the morning" on the rock, using root morphemes of the Gondi dialect, thought to be a proto Dravidian language, to arrive at the translation. Although the finding has set the tone for more research to establish the Gondi-Harappan connection to Hampi, the drawings are receiving scant attention from the Archaeological Survey of India(ASI) which has not notified the area or taken any steps to protect it.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/130216/gondi-script-found-in-hampi.html?
ROYAUME UNI – 
Fakenham - A "mystery" gold mount found in a Norfolk field has provided "another piece of the jigsaw" for historians looking for Anglo-Saxon settlements. The item was found near Fakenham and is possibly from a sword grip, but experts say it has differences to similar finds. Dr Andrew Rogerson, county archaeologist, said: "It's a fragment, but there's no context for it." No evidence of dwellings has ever been found in the village.