16 JANVIER 2018: Strathglass - Tanis - Bangalore - Yangguan - Trier - Thirumani - Raudal - Lernagog -
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ROYAUME UNI - 
Strathglass - The remains of a 2,400-year-old Iron Age fort have just been discovered deep in Strathglass in the lush Scottish Highlands after loggers spotted the mysterious structure and called in archaeologists to investigate the site. While the location was previously discovered sometime in the 1940s after a survey was taken in the area, no investigation was ever undertaken and it was swiftly forgotten about until the recent logging expedition uncovered the site once again. Even though it is surmised that these remains were most likely that of an Iron Age fort, there is also a chance that it may have once been the home to one of the area’s past lords or chiefs. Preliminary evidence shows that violence may also have been a feature of the building as archaeologists have concluded that the remains were set alight on two separate occasions and burned to the ground, only to have been rebuilt on both occasions, according to The Herald. While investigating the possible Iron Age fort, archaeologists noticed a curious absence of artifacts at the site and have hypothesized that perhaps the building was only used by local people under times of great threat, which may help to explain why it was burned down twice, only to be quickly constructed again. On the other hand, it’s highly possible that its first use would have been to have housed a lord or chief, after which it was abandoned and afterwards used only in times of great need, such as war.
https://www.inquisitr.com/4734199/2400-year-old-iron-age-fort-discovered-in-the-scottish-highlands/
EGYPTE - 
Tanis - An Egyptian archaeological mission has uncovered a stela of one of the ancient world’s most famous pharaohs — Ramses II. The Ministry of Antiquities announced last week that the artefact was found at the San Al-Hagar archaeological site in Sharqiya governorate. According to the description provided, the upright stone slab was made of red granite and depicted the king making offerings to an unidentified ancient deity. The stone also features various hieroglyphs that will be studied further. Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Egypt Today that in past years various international missions had worked at San Al-Hagar but despite its rich trove of buried ruins, had not put enough effort into the excavations. “This neglect pushed the Egyptian mission and the Ministry of Antiquities to establish a comprehensive development project at the site to protect its monuments and convert the site to an open-air museum,” he said. San Al-Hagar is situated in the ancient city of Tanis which served as a parallel religious centre to Thebes in the Third Intermediate Period, decades after the reign of Ramses II. Since the 19 Century, archaeologists have discovered ruins of numerous temples, some of which were especially made to the goddess Mut, the god Horus and the god Amun. In 2009, researchers discovered a sacred lake in a temple dedicated to Mut at San Al-Hagar. The pharaonic-era water-body was found two metres below ground and was 15 metres long and 12 metres wide. Built out of limestone blocks, the lake was the second of its kind found in Tanis. The first one was identified in 1928.
INDE - 
Bangalore - Temple dating back to 1539 AD was unearthed right from Bengaluru’s backyard on the international airport road recently. It was a stone that gave this hidden edifice away. During a “search operation”, a team noticed an innocuous piece of stone with engravings. In the team, was a BMTC bus driver and heritage enthusiast, Dhanpal M, who realised that this find is a part of a larger discovery. The stone had stood in Jakkur village for ages, but it was only during a search that the team conducts periodically in the city to look for stone inscriptions that their importance was understood. After the profile of the stone and its inscription was deciphered, another search was conducted, during which an old temple’s basement and pillars were discovered. The inscription found on the stone was Allalasandra Shaasana. The inscription has also been recorded in Epigraphia Carnatica Volume 9 according to which the Shaasana talks about a temple of Lord Allalanatha constructed in “Salivahana saka varusha 1461’’ (add 78 to get the AD year, which is 1539). The temple was built by then ruler Sadashiva Raya, who is the son-in-law of Krishnadevaraya, says the Shaasana. (Epigraphia Carnatica is a set of books on epigraphy of the old Mysore region, compiled by Benjamin Lewis Rice, former director of Mysore Archaeology Department. Between 1894 and 1905, Rice had published the books in a set of 12 volumes containing the study of nearly 9,000 inscriptions from lithic surfaces and copper plates). After finding the stone, Dhanpal went digging deeper in the area. Not far from the Allalasandra Shaasana stone was a vacant plot dotted with several pillar-like stones. “It is a site with a compound wall. There were remnants of a temple and I reported this to the archaeology department. Three epigraphists and researchers studied the pillars and came to a conclusion that this was where the Allalanatha temple once stood. The area’s name Allalasandra has been derived from this deity,’’ explains Dhanpal, who drives around Bangalore Darshana hop-on-hop-off bus. Apart from the pillars, idols, a mantapa, broken veeragallu, a paanipeeta (a plank on which a diety is kept in a temple) have been found on the site. According to what ephigraphists and researchers KR Narasimhan, PV Krishnamurthy and S Karthik have deciphered, the Allalasandra Shaasana is one of the oldest inscriptions of Jakkur that goes back to 975 AD. “The herostone found in the temple site talks about a martyred brave solider and calls the village Jakkiuru. If the temple premises are excavated, we will get more insights,’’ Karthik says.
CHINE - Yangguan - Chinese archaeologists have started a search for Yangguan, an important landmark on the ancient Silk Road that was fortified more than 2,000 years ago, the local cultural heritage authorities said Friday. Yangguang, China's then westernmost outpost, was established by a Western Han Dynasty emperor around 120 B.C. It has been included in many Chinese poems ever since. Relics along the ancient pass have been buried in sand in northwest China's Gansu Province for more than 1,000 years, and the exact location has been a mystery. Chinese archaeologists had been trying to find Yangguan since the 1930s but have always failed. A joint team consisting of experts hope to find the location, with the help of remote satellite sensing techniques.
http://www.ecns.cn/2018/01-13/288239.shtml
ALLEMAGNE - 
Trier - Until now, the date of construction of Trier's Porta Nigra, the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps, could only be estimated. Researchers dated it back to somewhere between 150 AD and 320 AD. Scientists have now managed to determine exactly when the city gate was built, thanks to ancient wood that was found in archaeological digs. It was built in 170 AD — or 1,848 years ago."This is a milestone in the history of the city of Trier," said the director of Trier's Rheinisches Landesmuseum, as the results of the findings were made public on Friday. The fact that the ancient oak wood that was found could be dated to the winter of 169/170 AD was a "stroke of luck," said Mechthild Neyses-Eiden, an expert in dendrochronology — the science of three-ring dating — who led the research at the Trier museum. At the time, wood was used for construction immediately after being felled, she explained.
http://www.dw.com/en/largest-roman-city-gate-north-of-the-alps-finally-dated/a-42123937
INDE - 
Thirumani - A bas-relief sculpture of “one of the oldest goddesses to be worshipped” – Jyeshta Devi – has been discovered by a team led by an archaeologist. As the sculpture carries the images of goddesses Jyeshta Devi and Gajalakshmi, it was “a rare and unique finding”, according to the team members. During a field visit on January 7, they stumbled upon a bas-relief sculpture of Jyeshta Devi and Gajalakshmi being worshipped at a Bathrakali temple in Oyathur near Thirumani village, Katpadi taluk. The sculpture measures 78 cm in height. “Jyeshta Devi, also known as ‘Moodevi’ was a goddess who was worshipped during the Pallava and Chola period. However, the worship of this goddess started to decline as time passed by,” Mr. Chandramoorthy said. Sculptures of Jyeshta Devi have been seen in Pallava-ruled land – Thondaimandalam – comprising Kancheepuram, Chengalpet and North Arcot districts. “We have seen sculptures of the goddess from the Mahendravarman period – that is 592 to 630 AD. But this sculpture, based on its style, appearance of face and characteristics, belongs to pre-Mahendravarman period, that is Simmavarman or Simmavishnu period, which is 600 AD,” Mr. Chandramoorthy said. The sculpture is about 1,400 years old, he said, adding, “This is a very rare and unique sculpture had been sculpted on one stone. Usually, Jyeshta Devi is found seated on a donkey, which is her vehicle. She usually is found holding a lotus in her right hand. In this sculpture, her hand suggests “abhaya mudra” that is a sign of blessing.” On the right side of Jyeshta Devi is her son Mandhan, while her daughter Mandhi is seated on her left side. “One of the earliest references to Jyeshta Devi in literature is as ‘thevvai’ in Thirukkural. She is known by various names,” he mentioned.
COLOMBIE - 
Raudal - Decades of conflict between Marxist rebels, right-wing paramilitaries, and the Colombian government meant few people made it to this canyon along Guayabero River, where dense forest protects one of the country's most significant but least-known archaeological sites. On the smooth walls of a rocky outcrop within the mountain region known as Serranía de la Lindosa, there's a wall with one of the most important rock paintings in Colombia. Archaeologists still haven't been able to date it, but they’re certain that the paintings are more than 400 years old. Cryptic scenes are superimposed on the whitish slabs about four meters tall, among them depictions of tapirs, lizards, pregnant women, ladders, and ritual dances. They’re the “dogs of war,” one of his finds in Cerro Azul—a monumental painting 50 meters in length along the path neighboring Ruadal. The dogs have been fundamental for understanding some relics that remain obscure to archaeologists.It was this image that allowed him to propose that some pictograms date to the first half of the 16th century, when a German explorer named Felipe von Hutten traveled the Guayabero region on a mission to find the gold of El Dorado. (He meant to satisfy the ambition of the banking family, the Welsers of Augsburg.) The dogs, an animal that had never been seen by the indigenous people in the area and that appear in the drawings from the German military expedition, were the key that allowed this connection to be made. Last year, the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History made a complete inventory of the sites and are now mapping them, one by one, which will clarify who lives in the area.
ARMENIE - 
Lernagog - An 8th century B.C. settlement has been discovered at “Lernagog-1” site near the village of Lernagog in Armenia’s Armavir Province. For the first time in the region archaeologists have uncovered a settlement, whose lower layers date back to the late 8th century or early 7th century B.C, Pavel Avetisyan, Director of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, told a press conference today. “Before that the most ancient settlements found on the territory of Armenia dated back to the 6th century B.C.,” he said. Specialists say that architectural traces found at the site prove that the area had been populated since the 8-7th centuries B.C. Archaeologists have also discovered traces of a clay construction, which testifies to the fact that people mastered clay architecture. According to Arthur Petrosyan, researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, it’s now a proved fact that residents of this part of the Armenian Highlands were active participants of the processes taking place at the beginning of the Neolithic era.
https://www.armradio.am/en/2018/01/12/8th-century-b-c-settlement-found-in-armenias-lernagog/
