22 JUILLET 2021 NEWS
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CHYPRE – 
Paphos - A spectacular ancient mosaic floor that was part of a building from the Hellenistic period is among the important finds from excavations carried out recently at Fabrika Hill in Kato Paphos. the archaeologists found that the building where the mosaics were found had been supplied with water from a clay pipe. It is believed that the water came from the area of Tala. Unfortunately, the building appears to have been partially destroyed by later Roman-era construction projects, which even included the construction of a water pipeline and reservoirs.
https://greekreporter.com/2021/07/20/ancient-mosaic-paphos-cyprus/
POLOGNE – 
Truso - Historians are testing a collection of ninth-century French coins found in a corn field in northern Poland to see if they could be part of the ransom paid by Paris to Vikings during the famous siege of the city in 845. Further work is also underway at the site where the coins were discovered. The siege of Paris of 845 was the culmination of a Viking invasion of West Francia. The Vikings plundered and occupied the city, then withdrew when they had been paid a ransom of 2,570 kg of silver and gold from Charles the Bald.
EGYPTE – 
Thônis-Heracleion - Divers have discovered rare remains of a military vessel in the ancient sunken city of Thônis-Heracleion -- once Egypt's largest port on the Mediterranean -- and a funerary complex illustrating the presence of Greek merchants. The city, which controlled the entrance to Egypt at the mouth of a western branch of the Nile, dominated the area for centuries before the foundation of Alexandria nearby by Alexander the Great in 331 BC. Destroyed and sunk along with a wide area of the Nile delta by several earthquakes and tidal waves, Thônis-Heracleion was rediscovered in 2001 in Abu Qir bay near Alexandria, now Egypt's second largest city. The military vessel, discovered by an Egyptian-French mission led by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM), sank when the famed temple of Amun it was mooring next to collapsed in the second century BC. A preliminary study shows the hull of the 25-meter flat-bottomed ship, with oars and a large sail, was built in the classical tradition and also had features of Ancient Egyptian construction, Egypt's tourism and antiquities ministry said. In another part of the city, the mission revealed the remains of a large Greek funerary area dating back to the first years of the 4th century BC, it said. "This discovery beautifully illustrates the presence of the Greek merchants who lived in that city," the ministry said, adding that the Greeks were allowed to settle there during the late Pharaonic dynasties. "They built their own sanctuaries close to the huge temple of Amun. Those were destroyed, simultaneously and their remains are found mixed with those of the Egyptian temple."
ANGLETERRE – 
Hull - Archaeologists believe they are one step closer to solving the mystery of a bottle of liquid found between a skeleton's legs on a dig. The fully sealed blue bottle, marked 'Hull Infirmary', was discovered earlier this year on an excavation project at the former Trinity burial site in Hull. Burials took place on the grounds between 1783 and 1861 and experts are now examining more than 1,500 skeletons for clues about the past, reports Hull Live. It was common for people to be buried with keepsakes and symbolic items such as rings and coins, but the bottle left the 70-strong team of archaeologists scratching their heads. Osteology supervisor Katie Dalmon said: "It's quite normal to find artefacts such as rings, coins, items of clothing and even tableware such as plates in a burial plot but this bottle was quite unusual. "Not only was it apparently specifically placed between the person's legs but it was also sealed and was nearly full of liquid." The 'Hull Infirmary' inscription on the side of the bottle was the first clue in what has become an ongoing piece of archaeological detective work. The hospital was first established in temporary premises in 1782 - a year before the burial ground opened. Katie added: "We now know a little bit more about the identity of the body - it's a woman who was in her 60s at the time of death. We also know she was suffering from residual ricketts and osteoporosis. "She was also buried in the middle of a burial stack with the bottle. It was deliberately placed with the individual and was not part of any backfill." Tests have also been carried on the mysterious liquid in an effort to establish what it actually is with samples being sent to experts from Nottingham Trent University to carry out high-tech analysis. The results showed the presence of sodium, potassium and phosphorus - suggesting the substance inside may have been urine.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mystery-fully-sealed-bottle-liquid-24564400
INDE – 
Bihar - A rare black stone Sun idol has been found during excavation on the premises of Baba Mateshwar Dham Temple at Katho panchayat in Saharsa district of Bihar. The three-feet-tall idol carries lotus flowers in both the hands. The Sun idol belongs to the Pala dynasty [750 AD]...There would be many such antique statues in Kosi area
ANGLETERRE – 
Ile de Man - A treasure hoard dating back to the eleventh century has been discovered on the Isle of Man. It includes 87 silver coins, 13 pieces of cut, silver arm-rings or “hack silver” and other artefacts. The hoard includes pennies minted in Dublin, England, modern day Germany and the Isle of Man itself. On the Irish and Manx coins, the profile of King Sihtric Silkbeard who served as Norse King of Dublin around 989 to 1036 AD can be seen. The other coins included those minted by kings Cnut and Aethelred II of England and also by Emperor Otto I. Some of the coins have a design called a “long cross” on the other side. These lines were used to cut the coins when literally only a half-penny was needed. The cut, or hack-silver pieces found with the coins are part of a flexible system of payment, where the value depended on the weight and purity of silver. It is expected that the coins and the hack-silver have over 90% silver content.
VIDEO = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxN-GSjcBjY
https://www.medievalists.net/2021/07/viking-age-treasure-hoard-discovered-on-the-isle-of-man/
FRANCE – Roquemissou - Depuis 2012, le site de Roquemissou entre Gages et Montrozier dans l'Aveyron fait l'objet de campagnes estivales de fouilles archéologiques dirigées par l'archéologue Thomas Perrin. C'est un gisement majeur dans le Sud-Ouest de la France parce qu'on trouve des traces de présence humaine sur près de 9000 ans sans interruption, entre -11.000 et -2000 avant notre ère.
VIDEO = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Tn7esOr5U
INDE – 
Faridabad - Au milieu de la haute falaise et des terrains de la zone forestière de Faridabad, les archéologues de l’Haryana ont découvert des peintures rupestres estimées préhistoriques sur le site de la forêt de la colline Mangarbani de Faridabad. « Certaines grottes ont de l’art rupestre tandis que d’autres ont des peintures, mais seules quelques-unes des peintures sont en bon état, les autres se sont détériorées. L’art comprend ce qui semble être des symboles, des marques, certains sont des dessins très anciens, mais ce que c’est exactement, seul le département d’archéologie pourra le dire », a déclaré Harsana à Indian Express. Cependant, des outils de l’âge paléolithique ont également été identifiés dans les parties de la chaîne de montagnes Aravalli. Récemment, des archéologues de l’Haryana ont également découvert certaines des peintures rupestres de la chaîne de montagnes Aravalli, qui comprennent des images de figures humaines, d’animaux, de feuillage et géométriques qui remontent au Paléolithique supérieur il y a environ 40 000 ans et ont duré jusqu’à il y a environ 10 000 ans.
GEORGIE - Satsurblia - Ancient sediments from caves have already proven to preserve DNA for thousands of years. The amount of recovered sequences from environmental sediments, however, is generally low, which complicates analyses. A study has now successfully retrieved three mammalian environmental genomes from a single soil sample from 25,000 years ago, obtained from the cave of Satsurblia in the Caucasus. The cave of Satsurblia was inhabited by humans in different periods of the Paleolithic: Up to date a single human individual dated from 15,000 years ago has been sequenced from that site. No other human remains have been discovered in the older layers of the cave.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210712122123.htm
DANEMARK – 
Tollund - The famous Tollund Man ate a modest but nutritious meal before being hanged around 400 BC, a new study reveals. Scientists have re-examined the last meal of the famous Tollund Man, a naturally mummified corpse found in a bog on the Jutland peninsula in Denmark in 1950. The new analysis reveals that he likely ate an Iron Age meal of fish and porridge packed with seeds, consumed sometime between 12 and 24 hours before his death. Although it sounds fairly ordinary, threshing waste containing the wild seeds was used as an ingredient in the porridge, which is suggestive of ritual practices. They also found Tollund Man had several parasitic infections – likely because he consumed undercooked meat and contaminated water at some point prior to death. Previous research has determined his cause of death as murder by hanging for unknown reasons before his body was placed in the bog. Tollund Man may have been a criminal or was possibly even sacrificed as part of a ritual practice 'to keep the gods satisfied'.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9807057/Final-meal-famous-Tollund-Man-revealed.html
