23 AOUT 2018: Kaliakra - Chavin de Huantar - Dyce - Kentri - Alexandrie -
INSTITUT SUPERIEUR D'ANTHROPOLOGIE
INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY
ONLINE COURSES / COURS A DISTANCE
FALL TERM : OCTOBER 2018
REGISTER NOW
BULGARIE – 
Kaliakra - A real treasure was discovered in the Kaliakra fortress - in a little clay pot, hidden under the floor of a room burned at the end of the 14th century, the National Museum of History (NMH) reports. The find is made of 957 objects - 873 silver and 28 gold coins, 11 appliqués and buckles, 28 silver and bronze buttons, 11 gold earrings, two rings, one of which gold, and four beads of precious stones and gold. Coins in the treasure, Ottoman and Bulgarian, are extremely valuable. The coins (silver coins of the Ottoman Empire) are about 60 per cent, mainly of Sultan Bayazid Yildirum (1389-1402), and a small part of his predecessor, Murad I (1362-1389). The jewels were hidden at the end of the 14th century during an attack on the capital of the Dobrudja Principality. One of them is described in a chronicle, which notes that in 1399 the Tatars of the Aktav horde invaded Varna and other towns along the Northern Black Sea coast. In 1401, the Tatars of Aktav, known as the Dobrudja Tatar, were defeated and displaced in various villages such as Provadia, Rusokastro and others. It is possible that one of their warlords has gathered the treasure found on Kaliakra - he has stolen the values from different people and places and hid them under the floor of his house shortly before it is burned. The building is built on the ruins of ancient buildings and around it are found burials of rich people from the 14th century, noted the NHM.
PEROU - 
Chavin de Huantar - The use of high technology in the form of small, all-terrain robots has made it possible to shed light on possible human sacrifices as much as 3,000 years old in the temple of Chavin de Huantar in Peru, the first major religious and pilgrimage center in South American history. The Chavin Rovers, as the robots are called by the team of archaeologists that put them to work in one of Peru’s most ancient ruins, edged through the narrow channels that lead to the galleries of the complex, many of which remain hidden to this day, and came upon the most important discovery on this site in the last 50 years. These robotic four-wheel-drive vehicles, guided by remote control and equipped with cameras and lighting systems, played a leading role in the first discovery of burials from the Chavin period, graves of the same men who built the temple and which are still intact after thousands of years. “What’s interesting is that they weren’t people of high social standing. They were probably sacrificed, but we’ll find that out with further studies,” US archaeologist John Rick, director for almost 25 years of the excavations financed by Peru’s Culture Ministry, Stanford University in the United States and the Antamina mining company. The US archaeologist was intrigued by the position of the bodies, buried face down under piles of rocks, which he considered “not very honorable” treatment for the departed. “So we have solved part of the mystery about where the people of Chavin buried their dead. I don’t believe it was customary to do it in the galleries but sometimes they did,” said Rick, who in two months has hardly set foot outside the ruins, nestled in a remote valley of the Andes at 3,100 meters (10,200 feet) above sea level. The specialist is convinced he can find at least another three burial sites, since he has located galleries similar to these, situated between the left side of the main temple and the round plaza of the complex, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985. Up to now some 36 underground tunnels and passageways have been identified that connect with one another, but the map of this labyrinth is incomplete and for the director of excavations there remain centuries of work in these ruins, where approximately every 300 years new passageways were constructed.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2463492&CategoryId=13936
ROYAUME UNI – 
Dyce - A rare Pictish stone has been uncovered in an Aberdeen river following last month’s spell of dry weather. The piece, thought to date from the sixth to eighth centuries AD, became partially exposed in the bank of the River Don in Dyce after the water levels dropped in July. Experts then analysed the artefact and found it to be a class one Pictish symbol stone – an unworked stone with carved symbols, which they described as a triple disc with cross bar, a mirror and a notched rectangle with two internal spirals.HES said the new discovery was one of a number of impressive finds in the north-east of Scotland, which include an early Pictish stone now on display at the Church of St Fergus in Dyce. They said the meaning of the symbols is debated but it is believed they may represent the names of individuals or groups. “Pictish symbol-stones are incredibly rare and this one, with its apparent connection to the river, adds further to the discussions around their meaning and what they were used for.” The Picts are said to be one of Europe’s “lost people”, chiefly known for their elaborately-decorated memorial stones found throughout eastern Scotland.
https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/2018/08/23/stunning-pictish-symbol-stone-found-in-aberdeen-river/
GRECE – 
Kentri - Archaeologists in Crete have discovered an intact Minoan-era tomb containing a well-preserved adult skeleton as well as funerary vessels. An initial inspection of the ceramics found in the tomb allowed it to be dated to the late Minoan period, or 1400 to 1200 BC, a statement from the Ministry of Culture said. The tomb was discovered during an emergency excavation in an olive grove outside the village of Kentri, in the eastern prefecture of Ierapetra, the statement added. A local resident had alerted the local archaeology ephorate to the possible existence of a tomb at the site.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/231953/article/ekathimerini/life/intact-late-minoan-tomb-found-in-crete
EGYPTE – 
Alexandrie - Egypt's mysterious black sarcophagus has given up a few more of its secrets, but just what they mean is open to interpretation. In amongst the pungent sewer water and the three decomposed skeletons, archaeologists at the Egyptian Ministry of Antiques found three gold sheets with pictures on them. One is of a snake, the second an ear of corn, and the third an opium poppy seed inside a building, believed to be a shrine of some sort. Snakes were a common motif in Egyptian burials, Society of Jewellery Historians president Jack Ogden told Live Science, representing rebirth. "They shed their skin, and thus [are] perfect in a funerary connection." The corn probably represents rebirth too, but the meaning behind the opium poppy is a little less obvious. "Opium seems to have been quite widely used in Greco-Roman Egypt for medicinal purposes, but there may be some connection - in the ancient mind at least - between its sleep- and dream-inducing qualities and death and rebirth," Dr Ogden said. Another gold object was found, the ministry said, without providing any description or photographs. One of the skeletons had a hole in the back of its skull which appears to have been the result of a surgical procedure, rather than violence. "This surgery is the oldest surgical intervention ever known since pre-history but was rare in Egypt," said chief researcher Zeinab Hasheesh. The surgery is known today as trepanation. There are several reasons why an ancient person might have had the hole drilled, including to remove shattered bone after an injury, to relieve blood pressure in the brain or to let out evil spirits believed to be behind conditions such as epilepsy and mental disorders.
