23 JUILLET 2014 NEWS: Labrador - Izmir - Puget Sound - Auckland Castle - Porthleven - Tino - Wells -

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CANADA –  Labrador - A stone fox trap discovered near Forteau, Labrador, at the site of Bay Bulls Properties’ proposed construction project. Overall, 60-70 stone traps have been discovered in the province. The stone fox trap was apparently easy to miss, in an area scattered with 12-gauge shells, rock pile “bird blinds” for hunters and stone circles previously marked by other researchers and investigators, chasing the answers to the mysteries of Southern Labrador history. Archeological consultants with Gerald Penney Associates — hired by the Pennecon subsidiary Bay Bulls Properties Ltd. — identified the stone fox trap in 2012, in an area known as Crow Head. There were bird bones inside the stone enclosure, along with “some garbage from the nearby municipal dump,” less than a kilometre away, according to the consultant’s report, filed with the province as part of the environmental assessment process. “Some of the stone at the one end had collapsed, but otherwise, the feature was in great condition,” it stated.The trap is exactly what it looks like: a pile of rocks. But, like an Inukshuk, the significance is in how and why the rocks were piled. A cavern, roughly three metres by two metres in this case, hunters would place a piece of meat inside the trap to tempt prey inside, typically fox. The animal could scurry in, but not easily scurry out, before a stone had blocked the escape route. NunatuKavut Community Council president Todd Russell has celebrated the find regardless, believing it a precious item for the people of NunatuKavut — with the potential to help connect past to present.

http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2014-07-23/article-3809377/Pennecon-subsidiary-praised-for-preserving-stone-trap/1

TURQUIE -  Izmir - Following the discovery of an ancient theater in İzmir’s Kadifekale district, the real estate prices in the surrounding areas have increased by up to 100 percent. Parts of the stage walls of an ancient Roman theater were unearthed in Kadifekale after the rubble on a site was cleaned away. The locals claim that the site attracted many visitors, including tourists, and that the existence of the theater is now widely known; it is the second biggest ancient theater in the world, and is becoming more and more famous every day. The most comprehensive information about the ancient theater in Kadifekale can be obtained from the plans and drawings of Austrian architects and archaeologists Otto Berg and Otto Walter, who conducted studies in the region in 1917 and 1918. The remains of the theater, which is thought to have held a capacity of 16,000 people, has characteristics of the Roman era, according to many researchers, the study reports.  Ancient sources claim that Saint Polycarp from İzmir was killed in the theater during the early years of Christianity and the pagan period of the Roman era. 

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/residents-of-impoverished-izmir-neighborhood-hit-jackpot-with-ancient-theaters-discovery.aspx?PageID=238&NID=69464&NewsCatID=375

USA –  Puget Sound - An anchor recovered from Puget Sound north of Seattle and believed to be more than 200 years old has reached Texas A&M University for restoration. School officials on Monday announced the anchor possibly from the HMS Chatham arrived in College Station via truck. The 900-pound anchor was discovered six years ago by diver Doug Monk in an inlet off Whidbey Island. Floats were used to bring the anchor to the surface. Restoration should take about 18 months at A&M's Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation.

http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksat/news/2014/07/22/tx-ancient-anchor.html

ROYAUME UNI –   Auckland Castle. - A rare insight into the luxurious dining habits of the Prince Bishops of Durham has been unearthed at Auckland Castle. The remains of two centuries old glasshouses used for growing pineapples have been found at the medieval Grade I-listed fortress in Bishop Auckland. They date back to 1757, which would make them amongst the oldest known hothouses of their kind in the North. The discovery was made during an archaeological survey of the castle’s derelict 300-year-old walled garden ahead of a major project to restore the two-acre site.

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/11360469._/?

ROYAUME UNI - Porthleven - An Iron Age hearth and evidence of a Bronze Age settlement have been uncovered in Porthleven by builders working on a new housing development. Archaeologists have been working alongside the contractors developing land off Shrubberies Hill and have been excited by the find. Community archaeologist Richard Mikulski said of the Iron Age hearth: “It’s quite a big deal. It’s the first ever find in Cornwall and there’s only one other example that we know of that’s sort of similar found in the south west, if not the country, found at Glastonbury at the end of the 19th century.There is evidence of metalworking and iron, which indicates it is from the Iron Age, as prior to that softer metals such as bronze would have been used as they are easier to heat and work with at lower temperatures.It is stone lined, with what seems to be a flue, indicating a controlled fire. Baked clay or soil has indentations that are either decorative, or more likely are impressions of the pots that would have been fired there. They are circular with a “spout”, as there would be on an upside down jug.There are at least five or six of these in a pattern within the baked soil in the stone lining. Accompanying this find were examples of Romano-British pottery.

http://www.thisisthewestcountry.co.uk/news/cornwall_news/11359944._/?

ITALIE –  Tino - An ancient Roman shipwreck has been discovered in the Ligurian Sea, 20 miles southwest of the island of Tino, at the western end of the Gulf of La Spezia. The discovery was made by sonar engineer Guido Gay, who has located the ship at 500 meters deep. Renamed Dedalus 21, the vessel is estimated to be dating to the second century B.C. It is 15 meters long and has preserved many precious objects, including hundreds of amphorae of the Republican era, proof, says Gay, of the flourishing maritime trade between France, Spain and Rome, which imported wine, fish and other goods from those areas. To protect the findings, the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Liguria has issued an order prohibiting fishing and diving activities in the area. In 2012, again in the area of ​​the island of Tino, Gay had found another Roman shipwreck dated between the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, containing numerous amphoraes as well. "Many of the amphoraes from that previous find were unfortunately reduced to fragments. This time, luckily, the site is better preserved."

http://www.italymagazine.com/news/ancient-roman-shipwreck-found-ligurian-sea?

ROYAUME UNI –  Wells -An archaeologist has shed new light on the Coat of Arms used by the City of Wells. The City of Wells Coat of Arms was commissioned by then mayor Dr Livett in 1867 and portrays a large tree, reputed to be an ash, surrounded by three of the wells that give the city its name. Although many English cities have used their Coats of Arms for hundreds of years, the College of Arms did not authorise the use of the City of Wells arms until 1951.Historian and archaeologist Dr Stephen Yeates is one of the UK’s foremost authorities on life in this area before the Roman conquest. Dr Yeates said: “These people were called the Dobunni and this area was the edge of their territory. We know much about them from images on the coins and sculptures they left behind. “We know from these coins and sculptures that within the Dobunni territory there were a number of key religions or cults and the images associated with these cults are very consistent, with the same images even appearing hundreds of years later on medieval manuscripts. The meaning of the iconography, however, seems to change over time.” One of the key images associated with the Dobunni is a Mother Goddess who is always depicted accompanied by a large bucket or circular vessel. So prevalent was this image and cult that later writers gave people associated with it the name Hwicca, which means “people of the sacred vessel”. Over hundreds of years elements were added to this Mother Goddess myth, one of which is that she usually inhabited the roots of a huge tree. The Wells Coat of Arms, though a relatively modern invention, uses the image of a tree and three vessels that Dr Livett had seen depicted on the much earlier 13th-century Wells city seal – itself thought to have been influenced by a 10th century illustrated charter commemorating the consecration of Wells Cathedral and which also depicts the same circular vessels.

http://www.wellsjournal.co.uk/New-light-shed-Wells-city-seal/story-21742037-detail/story.html?