17 AOÛT 2017 NEWS: al-Kamin al-Sahrawi - Uğurlu Zeytinlik - Islamabad - Laodicea - Greenwich - Lucerne - Exton -
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EGYPTE – 
al-Kamin al-Sahrawi - Three tombs dated to the Ptolemaic Period, more than 2,000 years ago, have been discovered in the Nile Valley, the Egyptian antiquities ministry said on Wednesday. The discovery was made in an area called al-Kamin al-Sahrawi, south of Cairo. The discovery of sarcophagi and clay fragments suggests that the archaeologists found a major necropolis used over generations. It was evidently used sometime between the 27th Dynasty (when ancient Egypt was under Persian control, from 525 B.C.E. to 404 B.C.E.) and the subsequent Ptolemaic period. A burial shaft carved out of the bedrock in one of the tombs leads to a chamber where four sarcophagi with anthropoid lids, containing two women and two men, were found. Another tomb contains two chambers, one with six burial holes, including one for a child. Excavation on a third tomb is still underway, the ministry stated. Since women and children were buried there, the necropolis is unlikely to be part of an ancient military site, as had been previously suggested, postulate the archaeologists. The 27th Dynasty had been founded by the Persian emperor Cambyses II, son of Cyrus the Great. Cambyses II conquered Egypt in 525 B.C.E., wresting control from the unfortunate and short-lived pharaoh Psamtik III. He tried to continue onto Libya, to no avail. The Greco-Roman Ptolemaic period began in 305 B.C.E. when the Roman general Ptolemy assumed the title of King, dubbing himself Ptolemy I Soter, i.e., the Savior. His dynasty would rule Egypt for over three centuries: male rulers took the soubriquet Ptolemy, while the queens tended to be named Arsinoe, Berenice and, famously, Cleopatra.
http://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/1.807195
TURQUIE – 
Uğurlu-Zeytinlik - Excavations in the Uğurlu-Zeytinlik Mound in the northwestern province of Çanakkale’s Gökçeada (Imbros) island have unearthed a 7,000-year-old structure complex as well as 13 skeletons belonging to men, women and children in a large pit. Excavations in the field have been conducted since 2009 by a team headed by Burçin Erdoğu, the head of Trakya University’s archaeology department. Works there shed light on an unknown period on the Aegean island and western Anatolia. Erdoğu said they reached important findings this year in the field. “This geography has the earliest settlement among eastern Aegean islands. We found an important structure complex with seven to eight rooms this year. The 5500s B.C. is a period of change and differentiation in western Anatolia, northwestern Anatolia and even in the Balkans. We can’t see this change everywhere in western Anatolia,” he added. Erdoğu said the transition period was very apparent in Gökçeada. “We know that architecture, potteries and settlement organization have changed in this transition period. Findings show us that this change was not too sharp in Gökçeada. The building complex that we found this year has seven-eight rooms. Our excavations will continue in this field. We don’t know much about this change in western Anatolia. We want to reveal an unknown period with these excavations,” he said. Erdoğu said they found many pits in the upper part of the excavation field, with human skeletons in one of them. “There were many pits in the field. We found 13 human skeletons, including of those belonging to men, women and children. The skeletons were thrown to the pit. It was a surprise for us because graves or human skeletons from this period are not found too often in western Anatolia or in Greece. This is why we are so lucky; it was the first of its kind for us. We estimate that after a person is dead, they threw stones on the body and then the other person was put on top of it. It continued like that. This may be related to a burial tradition or maybe a disaster. We don’t know much about it,” he said. Saying that skeletons were taken to Trakya University, he added that they would be examined to understand what they experienced along with DNA researches to also be conducted. “The skeletons will be examined there. We will also make DNA researches in the Middle East Technical University [in Ankara]. Maybe we will understand the relations of these people, where they were born, where they lived and what their race was. There is a special building in this part of the settlement. There is a bull bucranium in the entrance. The ground of the building was specially made; it was lime. Actually we found many pits in the field. This pit was in the very front of the building and it was too big. We found the skeletons there. Maybe it was a special field. Maybe they lived in another field and performed their prayers in this field. These skeletons may be related to them. Maybe the situation is totally different. But this is a very interesting finding,” Erdoğu noted.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ancient-structure-discovered-in-gokceada-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=116755&NewsCatID=375
PAKISTAN - Islamabad - The team of archaeological experts has so far identified 25 ancient archaeological sites in Zone IV of federal capital through its ongoing first ever archaeological survey. The survey is being conducted by the Department of Archaeology and Museums (DOAM) to find potential sites for excavation, preservation and documentation purposes, saving the precious heritage for future generations. The survey is being carried out by the archaeological experts through dividing Islamabad into five zones while the objective behind this survey is conservation of endangered archaeological sites and monuments. “The number of identified archaeological sites and monuments has reached up to 25 in Zone IV of the capital and most of the sites and monuments belong to the Mughal and Sikh periods”, said an official of DOAM while talking to media. The official informed that the survey work has been completed in the Zone IV which is the biggest zone among all five zones.
http://pakobserver.net/25-archaeological-sites-identified-zone-iv/
TURQUIE – 
Laodicea - Laodicea Stadium, the biggest stadium in Anatolia where sports competitions and gladiator fights were held in the ancient times, will be unearthed. The excavation work for the stadium started in Denizli province's Laodicea ancient city, which is on the tentative UNESCO World Heritage List. Nearly 4000 historical works have been unearthed so far in the Laodicea Ancient City excavation and restoration that have been continued for 13 years under the presidency of Professor Celal Şimşek, the Head of the Archaeology Department in Pamukkale University. "Sacred Agora," which has one of the seven churches in the Bible collapsed during an earthquake in 494 and it has been completely unearthed now while the figures, the statues, the agricultural tools, the household goods and the equipment are being preserved carefully. The project for the unearthing of Laodicea Stadium, which is in the Stadium Street of the ancient city and which was the biggest stadium of the time in Anatolia, was designed. The head of the Laodicea Ancient City Excavation Committee, Şimşek, told Anadolu Agency that the 2017 excavation and restoration works are still ongoing, they are mostly focusing on the project of Stadium Street in this season. Implying that the street of the excavation is important, he said, "The modelling of the columns collapsed in here is still under project and they will be restored in three months. Therefore, the street will be enlivened after 1,500 years.""It is a 285-meter-long, 70-meter-high construction. There is a south bath complex, which is one of the biggest baths of Anatolia, beside it. There is a council building next to the agora. Therefore, this is both a sports and administration area in which people came together. In this aspect, the street has a great importance," he added. He noted that they know from the tablets that there were many competitions in the stadium in the ancient times and the existence of the sportsmen winning the first place for five times in the competitions is known by written evidence. "This stadium is also important for gladiator fights. A competition not only for this place but also for the other cities in Lycus Plain was being organized. Sports competitions and gladiator fights in both local and Olympic levels were being held here," he said.
https://www.dailysabah.com/history/2017/08/16/gladiators-arena-to-be-unearthed
ROYAUME UNI – 
Greenwich - Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of Greenwich Palace, the birthplace of Henry VIII and his daughters Mary and Elizabeth I. A team working on a development underneath the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, southeast London, discovered two rooms belonging to the old Tudor palace. The rooms are believed to have been used as kitchens, a brewhouse or laundry areas. One of the rooms featured a lead-glazed tiled floor and the other contained what experts believe are “bee boles” - wall cavities which housed beehive baskets or “skeps” during the winter months, when bee colonies hibernate. The cavities may also have been used to store food and drink to keep it cool, when the hive baskets were kept outside in the summer. The size and scale of Greenwich Palace was once comparable to Hampton Court Palace and it contained state apartments, a chapel, courtyards, gardens and an area for jousting. It was demolished in the 17th century and the Old Royal Naval College was constructed where the palace once stood.
SUISSE – 
Lucerne - Archaeologists have discovered human bones and the remains of a church belonging to a medieval hospital in the Old Town of central Swiss city Lucerne. The discovery was made during the renovation of pipelines and paving around the Franziskanerplatz, according to news agency ATS. Historians know that the Heiliggeist-Spital (Holy Spirit Hospital) was located in that area from the 13th century until it was demolished in 1656. At one time, the hospital had a church, but that was also torn down in 1788 after falling into disrepair. During the excavation archaeologists uncovered not only the remains of the church but also evidence of an older church on the same site, believed to have been built in 1345. Plaster fragments showed that the choir was decorated with colourful frescos, project manager Fabian Küng told ATS. Archaeologists also unearthed human bones from the garden of a former Franciscan monastery next to the church. The garden was used as a cemetery from 1600 to 1798 due to overcrowding in the city’s main cemeteries, said ATS. The Old Town of Lucerne is thought to have been occupied for at least 800 years. Though it has no official founding date, historians regard 1178 as the year the city was born. Many of its most beautiful buildings were constructed in the Middle Ages, with the chapel bridge – Lucerne’s symbol – built around 1300.
https://www.thelocal.ch/20170815/medieval-church-and-skeletons-unearthed-in-lucerne-city-centre
ROYAUME UNI – 
Exton - An archaeological dig in the Meon Valley saw scores of volunteers help to excavate the site of a Roman temple. A geophysical survey of the site near Beacon Hill Lane carried out in 2015 by the group revealed a hexagonal shaped structure which is very rare in Roman Britain. Since then, teams of students and community volunteers, led by Professor Tony King, have slowly unearthed the foundations of the building, thought to be a temple. The work has also led to an adjacent room being revealed, believed to be a bathhouse, as well as artefacts from the Roman period and Iron Age. This year the plan has been to extend both the main and extension trenches to the east, as well as the excavation of the main site.
http://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/15471916.Meon_Valley_dig_unearths_evidence_of_temple/