19 - 20 MARS 2011 NEWS - Ecosse - La Pointe-Krebs House - Lyttelton - St Omer - Micanopy - Le Caire - Bermudes - Winchester -
- 19 - 20 MARS
- ROYAUME-UNI – Ecosse - The Scottish history and heritage that could be lost to eroding coastlines is to be tracked by a major new project backed by National Lottery funds and hundreds of volunteers. Scotland’s coastline is rich in heritage sites, from Neolithic settlements to Viking graves to 19th century fishing boats. Erosion can uncover historically important sites as well as destroy them. It was a storm in 1850 that revealed the now-Unesco World Heritage listed Neolithic village, Skara Brae and in 2009 an emergency archaeological dig prompted by erosion uncovered the 5,000-year-old Orkney Venus – the oldest known depiction of a face in the UK. The second part of the project, ShoreDig, will see two major excavations and nine smaller ones undertaken at at-risk sites to see what they contain. The information which is collected by the heritage stewards and at the digs will be fed into an online database.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/project-to-record-coastline-s-history-1.1091508
- USA – 
La Pointe-Krebs House - As artifacts unearthed at the La Pointe-Krebs House in the digs of last summer are being analyzed at the University of South Alabama's archaeology lab in Mobile, members of the Jackson County Historical and Genealogical Society have eagerly awaited a report on the findings. During the summer digs, several structural remains were found, including a brick foundation, one very large pit possibly for underground food storage, and a pit where mortar was produced for one of the plantation buildings," Gums said. "For the last six months, the artifacts have been cleaned and are now being analyzed." The summer excavation project yielded highly decorated Native American pottery, Indian tobacco pipes made of stone and clay, French, British and Spanish colonial ceramics, religious medallions and glass trade beads.
- NOUVELLE- ZELANDE – 
Lyttelton - Specialists have digitally mapped Lyttelton's quake-damaged Timeball Station before the historic building is dismantled. Earlier this month, the Historic Places Trust said the station would be dismantled due to extensive damage from the February 22 quake. The station had already been damaged in the September 4 earthquake. Specialists took digital photos and used a laser scanner to take millions of reference points of the station. "The information will give a variety of ways to reconstruct a digital model of Timeball to the millimeter- The Timeball Station is classified as a Category I historic place of international significance with the trust, because of its special maritime history. From 1876 to 1934 a ball dropped from Timeball Station's mast on its stone tower, signalling the time to ships in Lyttelton Harbour. In 1934, the timeball was replaced by radio signals, though flag signals continued until 1941.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10714013
- FRANCE – 
Saint Omer - Les tranchées réalisées par le service archéologique du conseil général cette semaine sur le parking de l'Esplanade ont permis de mettre au jour les vestiges du château du XIIIe siècle, pressenti sur le site. Les services techniques de la ville doivent reboucher les six tranchées d'un à trois mètres de profondeur, creusées lors de la première phase du diagnostic. Restera à remettre en état le parking pour qu'il puisse accueillir les voitures, pendant que l'équipe d'archéologues s'attaquera à l'autre partie de l'Esplanade, à partir du 28 mars. « On ne peut pas tout ouvrir. Mais il faut regarder au moins 10 % de la surface », explique Jean-Luc Marcy, directeur du centre départemental d'archéologie du conseil général. La première phase de diagnostic a déjà permis de dévoiler « des découvertes intéressantes, des fondations de château bien conservées, des séries de différents sols d'habitat probablement plus anciens que le château, des ossements d'animaux ». Étant donné l'intérêt historique des vestiges et leur état de conservation, des fouilles archéologiques seront prescrites, c'est une certitude. Il appartiendra à un collège d'experts d'en déterminer l'ampleur. La deuxième phase du diagnostic permettra aux archéologues d'avoir une vision plus complète.
- USA – 
Micanopy - An area archaeologist working with several professionals and volunteers has commenced work on a project to locate the site of a Seminole War-era fort in Micanopy. The site of the dig was chosen after earlier archaeological work indicated the site of Fort Micanopy was not several blocks to the south, as once thought. The coring gave an indication of a burned building here in this vicinity, so it's a good place to put a unit (a small, shallow excavation)- In 1819, Spain ceded Florida to the United States for $5 million following the first short Seminole War- Then there was the second war that ended in 1842, when the Indians who had survived the fierce battles were sent to Oklahoma. Fort Defiance was the first fort built sometime in the early 1830s. But it was burned down in August of 1836. There was a lot of sickness in the area, so it was burned down by Major Pierce, who was the younger brother of President Franklin Pierce. Then the military came back nine months later and built Fort Micanopy, which fell to ruin once it was no longer needed---
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20110319/ARTICLES/110319291/-1/news?p=2&tc=pg
- EGYPTE - Le Caire - Twelve of the artifacts missing from the Egyptian Museum, Cairo have been returned, including six bronze statuettes dated to the Late Period, a small limestone statue of a sphinx, and five necklaces. It is unclear if the people who had possession of these antiquities had any relationship with the looters who broke into the museum. They attempted to try and authenticate the objects by contacting a young archaeologist, whose name I have withheld for his own safety, with the goal was of selling the stolen pieces. The archaeologist recognized the objects as those missing from the museum and took photographs with his mobile phone. He contacted the director of the museum and the police, and the people were taken into custody.
http://www.drhawass.com/blog/twelve-missing-objects-returned-egyptian-museum-cairo
- BERMUDES – 
Southampton - After about six weeks at sea, out of England, the Warwick arrived at Bermuda on October 20, 1619, carrying a cargo of additional settlers, lots of goodies from the home country, and the third Governor of Bermuda, Nathaniel Butler, later to be governor of Providence Island (with mainly setters from Bermuda) off the coast of Nicaragua, now Isle de Providencia, now a possession of Colombia. One of Butler’s first jobs was to get the already irascible “Bermudians” under control, a task with which he eventually made some progress. In the meantime, however, disaster struck with a very late November hurricane that sank the Warwick in Southampton Harbour, much to everyone’s consternation: “One can imagine what a blow this was to the Governor. His concern was not so much in regard to what was lost, as to the problems which threatened for the future. For the Warwick was the magazine ship, and her loss meant the loss of the year’s crop of tobacco, which would spoil for having missed this opportunity for export.” Shortly thereafter Governor Butler was forced to issue a proclamation, “of a type these island had never before received from their Governor. The first was to confiscate and recover all the goods that had been stolen from the wrecked ship Warwick”, thus marking the start of a perhaps not so honourable local tradition that assumed that if it is lost at sea, it belongs to whoever “finds” it. A few decades ago, the Philadelphia Maritime Museum and E (Teddy) Tucker examined the site of the Warwick, a study which determined that important hull remains, from the turn of the bilge to the first gun deck, survived for one side of the vessel. In July 2011, with a permit from the Bermuda Government’s Historic Wreck Authority, the National Museum of Bermuda will further undertake an intensive archaeological study of the Warwick,
http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20110319/ISLAND09/703199979
- ROYAUME-UNI – 
Winchester - A team of archaeologists has returned to Winchester to search for ancient secrets beneath the city. Wessex Archaeology have begun more work in the old Winchester Fire Station in North Walls after a successful dig in January, when a team found the ruins and foundations of a medieval building, believed to be a friary. Project manager Paul McCulloch said: “Scattered remains of the Friary have come to light in the vicinity over the years, including tombs and decorated floor tiles. We have an opportunity to record something of the layout of the Friary before the old Fire Station is developed.” So far, the investigation has revealed the foundations of one of the Friary buildings, along with a wall that probably enclosed the Friary precinct at one stage. The team are also looking out for finds dating back to Roman and Saxon times. The investigation is expected to last another week.