23 MAI 2015 NEWS: Nubie - Jerusalem - Cuttack - Novae -
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SOUDAN – 
Nubie - Drone footage showing ancient Nubian pyramids, temples and burial sites has been released by National Geographic. The incredible footage provides a completely new perspective on the 3,000-year-old structures in the Sudanese desert. The ruins date to the kingdom of Kush, which lasted for over two millennia but disappeared in 300AD. As well as the drone, researchers also used a remote-controlled robot to excavate caves that have not been visited by humans for thousands of years. The Nubian pyramids were built by the ancient Kushite kingdoms 500 years after the last ones were constructed in Egypt and the Nile Valley. Over 250 pyramids were built at the site and were used as tombs for kings and queens. The oldest and largest pyramid is that of the 25th Dynasty pharaoh Taharqa.
ISRAEL – 
Jerusalem - A section of a subterranean aqueduct that brought supplied water to the city of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago was recently unearthed in the neighborhood of Umm Tuba during preparations to lay a new sewer pipe. Now that part of the aqueduct has been uncovered, the Israel Antiquities Authority hasset up an official archeological excavation at the site. Yaakov Billig, who is overseeing the dig for the authority, noted that "the aqueduct, which was constructed over 2,000 years ago by the Hasmonean kings to bring water to Jerusalem, was used on and off until about 100 years ago. "The aqueduct begins in Ein Itam, near King Solomon's Pool south of Bethlehem, and is about 21 kilometers [13 miles] long. For most of its length, [the aqueduct] runs down a very slight incline, with the water flowing down about one meter every kilometer. When it was first built, the water flowed along an open conduit. About 500 years ago, during the Ottoman Empire, it was lined with clay so the water would be better protected," Billig said. The aqueduct originally ran through open territory, but it now runs through a number of neighborhoods that have been built as Jerusalem expanded in the modern era, including Umm Tuba, Sur Baher, East Talpiot and Abu Tor.
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=25667
INDE – 
Cuttack - Experts from state archaeology on Thursday examined the tunnel-like structure discovered at Kathagada Sahi here during road excavation work, two days ago. The four-member team included chemical experts and a curator. It examined the structure and took samples of the brick and limestone used in it. "Preliminary examination reveals that the structure is over 100 to 150 years old. Instead of cement, limestone (chhuna) has been used to construct it," said B P Ray, the team leader. It hinted that the structure might have been constructed for passage of sewerage water. The brick construction and arch also suggest possibility of a housing structure that has been buried. "We don't want to arrive at any conclusion in a hurry. Cuttack is an ancient city and there is every possibility that the structure may have some historical significance," said a member of the team.
BULGARIE – 
Novae - Archaeologists from Bulgaria and Poland are planning to start their annual summer excavations of the Ancient Roman military camp and fortress Novae near the Danube town of Svishtov in mid July, 2015. It was a legionary base and a Late Roman city which formed around itscanabae, a civilian settlement near a Roman military camp, housing dependents, in the Roman province Moesia Inferior, later Moesia II, set up after the Roman Empire conquered Ancient Thracesouth of the Danube in 46 AD. It had a total area of 44 hectares (108 acres), according to a decree ofRoman Emperor Vespasian (r. 69-79 AD). Novae is located near the southernmost point of the Danube where in 48 AD the 8th August Legion (Legio VIII Augusta) was stationed after participating in the suppression of a Thracian uprising. In 69 AD, it was replaced by the First Italian Legion (Legio I Italica), which was headquartered there for the next almost 4 centuries, at least until the 430s AD, and was a major force in the defense of the so called Lower Danube limes (frontier) against barbarian invasions together with other Romanstrongholds such as Sexaginta Prista (today’s Ruse), Durostorum (today’s Silistra), and Ratiaria (today’s Archar). A testimony to the importance of Novae was that it was visited by three Roman Emperors: Trajan (r. 98-117 AD), Hadrian (r. 117-138 AD), and Caracalla (r. 198-217 AD). The most prosperous times for Novae was during the Severan Dynasty (r. 193-235 AD). In 250 AD, about 70,000 Goths led by Gothic chieftain Cniva invaded the Roman Empire by crossing the Danube at Novae; regardless of the siege, however, the fortress of Novea did not fall into the hands of the Goths. With the continuing Goth invasions and settlement in the Balkan provinces of theRoman Empire and East Roman (Byzantine) Empire in the 4th and the 5th century AD, in 418-451 AD Novae became the residence of Ostrogoth Chieftain Theodoric Strabo who was a rival of his kinsman,Theodoric the Great, King of the Germanic Ostrogoths (r. 475-526 AD). The last traces of major construction at Novae date to the rule of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I the Great (r. 527-565 AD). At the end of the 6th and the early 7th century Novae was attacked by the Avarsand the Slavs which led the Ancient Roman and Byzantine city to decline. In the late 5th and 6th centuries Novae was the center of a bishopric. Novae was last mentioned as a city in written sources in the 7th century AD.