23 AVRIL 2017 NEWS: Goodwin Sands - Louisbourg - Terville - Portlaoise - Louxor -
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ROYAUME UNI – 
Goodwin Sands - A ship which sank on the Goodwin Sands almost 300 years ago will be partially excavated by archaeologists this summer. Dutch East Indiaman, the Rooswijk, was on its way to the Indies with valuable cargo on board when the ship sank off the Kent coast in January 1740. The wreck is threatened by natural conditions such as currents and shifting sands and an exploratory study of the wreck last year has made the need for excavation even more urgent. From July to October this year, an international team based in Ramsgate will map the wreck and secure archaeological material for future generations. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) wreck is of enormous value to archaeologists as it will help them better understand this period of seafaring history. There are a total of 250 Dutch VOC shipwrecks, of which only a third have been located. Never before has a VOC wreck been researched or excavated scientifically on this scale.
CANADA – 
Louisbourg - Parks Canada has unveiled details on its plans to preserve the remains of early Louisbourg residents whose burial ground is being threatened by coastal erosion. An unmarked cemetery on Rochefort Point, located on a headland just east of the reconstructed portion of the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site, is about one metre closer to sea level than it was in the 1700s. The lack of marked graves means it’s unclear just what the dig will unearth, but Ebert said research has indicated that as many a 1,000 bodies may be buried on the peninsula. In 2006, Parks Canada archaeologists checked out the Rochefort Point shoreline following a wicked winter storm and found evidence of a structure in the eroding soil. A survey eventually led to the discovery of 45 bodies in what was believed to have been a root cellar. “We’ve got millions of artifacts in Louisbourg that tell part of the story, but we believe this gives us the opportunity to better understand the story of an ordinary person,” said Ebert. “Human remains can tell us a lot about who we were, how we lived, the diseases we had — we can really learn a lot about individual people and the opportunity for Parks Canada here is to help better our understanding of Louisbourg and to better tell its story.”
FRANCE – 
Terville - 70 urnes funéraires des IIe et IVe siècle ont été découvertes à Terville par une équipe d’archéologues de l’Inrap. Une nécropole gallo-romaine d'ampleur qui confirme la présence dans ce secteur d'un site historique. Les professionnels tentent de comprendre le rituel funéraire en bord de voie romaine. En observant ces sépultures on apprend aussi sur le "monde des morts" de cette époque et des renseignements sur les défunts, leurs métiers. Certains objets en disent long sur la nationalité des personnes enterrées, leur religion. En fonction des Dieux de l'Empire romain. Dans les urnes, des fragments d'os brûlés sont étudiés, pour déterminer le sexes des défunts, leur âge ou leur classe sociale. Ces fouilles archéologiques préventives ont permis de mettre au jour une nécropole d'importance. Une centaine de dépôts funéraires qui va permettre d'affiner les connaissances. "On a découvert une partition spatiale en trois temps : une zone très dense en bord de la voie, et deux autres zones, plus modestes. Enfin des dépôts funéraires en fonction des classes sociales des défunts". Des urnes en céramiques en verre ont été retrouvées.
IRLANDE – 
Portlaoise - The first electronic survey of the 16th century garrison walls in Portlaoise has found it largely intact, with sections forming walls of many modern buildings and yards in the town centre. Portlaoise the capital town of county Laois was founded as the first English garrison in Ireland. The high stone walls built to protect soldiers sent to the Queens county “to put manners on the natives”, according to Laois Heritage Officer Catherine Casey. Now laser imaging is being done to record every stone. “It’s surprisingly intact. 75 percent of the walls are still there. They form the front of the vocational school, they run down the back of main street, as some back yard walls, and some are inside O’Loughlin’s Hotel,” said Ms Casey. The wall is visible from the gates of Scoil Mhuire school on Railway street, while the school is built on top of the original main garrison building. It runs behind Fitzmaurice place where its main tower stands, and up as far the old vocational school across from the cinema.
EGYPTE – 
Louxor - Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities re-erected on Tuesday a colossus of King Ramses II that once decorated the façade of the first pylon of Luxor Temple, after concluding comprehensive restoration and reconstruction work upon it. Head of Luxor Antiquities Mostafa Waziri told Ahram Online that restoration began on the statue in November 2016. In 1958, an Egyptian archaeological mission led by Mohamed Abdel-Qader uncovered the statue, which had broken into 57 parts – damages sustained during a destructive earthquake in the fourth century AD. “These blocks were removed and placed [in the interim period] in wooden shelters on the first pylon’s western side,” Waziri said. The statue is carved in black granite, weighs 75 tonnes and stands 11 metres tall from the base to the crown