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IRLANDE – Streedagh - Newly exposed material from the wrecks of the Spanish Armada off the coast of Streedagh, Co Sligo, was recovered by the National Monuments Service of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht on Wednesday. Spanish Armada ships were wrecked off the Sligo coast in 1588 as the crews made their way towards England to invade it. The artefacts recently became exposed due to stormy weather off the west coast in the last two years. The Department were alerted to this in April 2015 after the local community and the Grange Armada Development Association reported that a large number of ship timbers were being washed ashore. Dive surveys have been ongoing since then and an action plan was established to preserve the exposed material. “The National Monuments Service believes that all of the material has come from La Juliana, one of the three Armada ships wrecked off this coastline in 1588. On current evidence, the other two wreck sites remain buried beneath a protective layer of sand, but the wreck of La Juliana is now partly exposed on the seabed along with some of its guns and other wreck material.”
http://utv.ie/News/2015/06/17/Spanish-Armada-artefacts-retrieved-from-the-ocean-39279
IRAN – Teheran - In November 2014, Mahsa Vahabi, an Archeology student serendipitously discovered in the dug soil in Mowlavi St., of Tehran Water and Wastewater Company some pottery. Her discovery of simple earthen material drew attentions from her fellow archeologist and a study team addressed the place on Mowlavi St. Further excavations uncovered from under the soil bones and skeleton, reportedly and supposedly belonging to a women from 7,000 years ago. Soon archeology researchers carried out research to find out more about its characteristics. A 3D documentation method was carried out on the skeleton by Mohammad Reza Rokni, an expert in Archeology Research Center. He told Mehr News that to develop a 3D documentation, “we used whole parts of the skeleton and the principle of symmetry of human skeleton to reconstruct the missing parts or parts which are unfit for the reconstruction.” “The model was developed drawing upon the supine position of the skeleton to represent its true position when interred; to reconstruct the face we added a digital version of missing parts mounted on the 3D model; the prepared model was pinpointed in 11 points in face on eyes, nose, ears, chicks, lips, and chin, and then the digital texturing filled these pinpoints to give us a clear image of the face,” he detailed. Rokni also commented on the way the hairs of the woman was reconstructed; “since we had no trace of the hairs, choosing a color for hair was a matter of taste; in doing so, we drew upon the signs in pottery found in Cheshmeh Ali; five strong and standard modeling software versions helped us synchronize and corrected,” he told Mehr News. He claimed that the finished reconstructed face would be 95 per cent accurate compared with the original face of woman last seen 7,000 years ago.
http://en.mehrnews.com/news/107975/Face-of-Tehran-s-7-millennia-old-woman-reconstructed
BULGARIE – Perperikon - Bulgaria’s ancient sacred site of Perperikon may have had a Roman temple dedicated to Apollo, archaeology professor and Perperikon dig team leader Nikolai Ovcharov said on June 17 2015. Soon after the start of this year’s archaeological excavation season at Perperikon, the team found a 10cm bronze figurine of Apollo. It was found about a metre from the foundations of a public building that experts believe had been a Roman temple. Explaining his assertion that there may have been a temple to Apollo on the site in the third century CE, Ovcharov said that the figurine was of exceptionally high quality and thus differed from the cruder figures widespread among finds in the Rhodopes. He said that there appeared to have been a local production facility, given that archaeologists had found a number of exquisite bronze figures in the Perperikon area over the years. Apart from the figurine, a sixth century gold coin weighing 1.5 grams and minted during the time of Justinian the Great had been found. Ovcharov said that the finding of two silver coins from the time of the first minting in the Ivan Alexander era was extremely important. History recorded that the summit had been conquered by Bulgarian forces in 1343 and it was possible that the silver coinage had been used to pay the Bulgarian soldiers.
http://sofiaglobe.com/2015/06/17/professor-perperikon-may-have-had-a-roman-temple-to-apollo/
VIET NAM – Ninh Binh - Archeologists from the Viet Nam Institute of Archaeology have discovered numerous valuable relics in the Vu Lam royal step-over place, located within the Trang An scenic landscape complex. The discovery includes clay for pottery, trees submerged in black mud, earth road and stones for road embankment or for building river wharfs. In addition, the experts have also collected more than 5,000 broken pieces of surfaces and 940 pieces of various relics such as enamel pottery, crockery or rice that has turned into coal. They said the site might have been the place for making enamel pottery during the Tran Dynasty (1225-1400). The finds in the Vu Lam royal step-over place, an important area with military vestiges that contain many undiscovered mysteries, will contribute to explaining why the Tran Dynasty was able to defeat large and powerful Yuan-Mongol invaders thrice with limited military forces. It will also be an important foundation in researching, preserving and promoting the cultural and historical value of Trang An natural and cultural world heritage. According to historical documents, the Vu Lam royal step-over place used to be the military base of the Tran Dynasty during the resistance wars against the Yuan-Mongol invaders in the 13th century. It was also the place where King Tran Thai Tong (1218-1277) and King Tran Nhan Tong (1258-1308) abdicated the throne to become Buddhist monks.
http://vietnamnews.vn/life-style/271810/valuable-relics-discovered-in-ninh-binh.html
ROYAUME UNI – Radcliffe - Investigating the medieval manor, much of which still remains a mystery, in addition to the city’s industrial heritage, the Radcliffe Tower dig at Close Park, Bury began on April 13 and uncovered a late medieval wing to the timber hall and made a detailed 3D study of the remains of the tower. Radcliffe was formerly a three storey pele tower, one of only a handful of such towers in Lancashire, and was originally part of a fortified medieval manor. Sitting on the northern bank of the River Irwell, the house, dating from around 1403, was rebuilt by lord of the manor James de Radcliffe, after he was given a licence to fortify the site, permitting him to construct two pele towers, in addition to adding crenellations and battlements.
It is uncertain if the second tower was ever built. The manor house and west wing were demolished in the early 1830s with some of the materials used in the building of neighbouring cottages to house workers at a nearby bleachers. Finds included glass goblets and fine slipware dinner plates from the 16th century.
http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art529169-community-archaeology-project-digs-into-the-mysteries-surrounding-radcliffe-tower