26 MAI 2017 NEWS: Sir Bani Yas - Ardrossan - Shrewsbury - Edinburgh - Tours - Urville Naqueville
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UAE – 
Sir Bani Yas Island - Archaeologists at a dig site on UAE’s Sir Bani Yas Island have uncovered what they call “stunning evidence” supporting the discovery of a believed 4,000-year-old trading post, said the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) on Wednesday. The authority said the dig focused on a stone-constructed building at a location on the island’s southwest coast. Inside the building were found fragments of a number of large jars believed to have been made in Bahrain around 4,000 years ago and belonging to a time when the UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, and south Asia were engaged in intensive maritime trade, with the jars transported through the Arabian Gulf by ships. One of the most remarkable finds was a stamp seal, probably made from steatite, said the authority. Said to be an example of a famous ‘Dilmun Stamp Seal’, Dilmun being the ancient name for Bahrain and adjoining regions, merchants used such stamps to authorise shipments of goods around the Arabian Gulf. The seal appears to show an animal and a human figure under the moon.
ROYAUME UNI – 
Ardrossan- The second part of Ardrossan Castle Heritage Society’s archaeological dig in and around the church on the Castle Hill took place last weekend. The floor of the church was exposed for the first time in over a century since the Ardrossan Sarcophagus was unearthed in 1911. The presence of human bones and skull fragments suggests that the church was a burial place, most likely for high-ranking people. Stone slabs on the north and south walls were likely to have been seating for the clergy or gentry. Some gravestones were cleaned to make the eroded inscriptions more legible.
http://www.ardrossanherald.com/news/15291942.Ardrossan_Castle_dig_finds/
ROYAUME UNI – 
Shrewsbury - Archaeologists say a sacred burial site uncovered in Shrewsbury in February is over 4,000 years old. They say the site, which was discovered at a Greek Orthodox Church, may be the country's oldest-known continuously used sacred ground. Finds suggest it has been used during every era since the late Neolithic period. Carbon dating of a wooden post extracted during the dig showed it was placed in the ground in 2,033 BC. Archaeologists expected the post to be Anglo-Saxon. Other finds on the Oteley Road site included a calf, a pig and a dog that died while giving birth.It appears the current Medieval church is built over the site of an ancient pagan burial ground that's been in use from the late Neolithic period through the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, Anglo-Saxon and through to today."The only other British site of a Christian church that is known to date back to the late Neolithic period is at Cranborne Chase, in Dorset, but it is a Norman ruin."
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-shropshire-39981488
ROYAUME UNI – 
Edinburgh - She was laid to rest in an 18th century graveyard along with the bodies of the “unclaimed dead” whose relatives were too poor to afford a proper burial. Now the unknown young woman whose remains were discovered around 200 years later has been given a starring role in a major new exhibition in Edinburgh. A lifelike image of her face created from her skull, which is part of the city’s official archives, has been revealed for the first time – to highlight the dark side of the city’s medical history. The woman, who was buried directly opposite the then Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, was one of the victims of an underground trade in human remains after her teeth were stolen by staff at the hospital to supplement their wages. It is thought cash-strapped porters, nurses and washerwomen may have been involved in the illegal practice to capitalise on the growing market at the time for “real” false teeth.
FRANCE – Tours - Une équipe de l'Inrap mène un diagnostic archéologique aux casernes Beaumont-Chauveau depuis début mai. Les archéologues ont mis à jour une abbaye construite en 1002. Nicolas Fouillet, chef des opérations, fait le point.
FRANCE – 
Urville-Naqueville - Une fois par an depuis 2009, on reparle de ce site archéologique dans La Presse de la Manche. Un site exceptionnel sur la plage d’Urville-Nacqueville, quelques mètres sous les serviettes des plagistes !Parfois il s’agit d’en savoir davantage sur le village de Gaulois et les relations Transmanche (notamment commerciales) de l’époque (entre -80 et -120 avant J.-C.) près du fort actuel, parfois c’est la nécropole cent mètres plus loin qui titille la curiosité du jeune archéologue Anthony Lefort, responsable du site de fouilles :On profite d’un créneau de faibles marées pour ce nouveau chantier en bord de mer. Celui-ci est rapide, une semaine seulement, du 16 au 22 mai. On est descendus un peu plus profond encore. En effet, la dernière fois en 2014, on avait aperçu un enclos funéraire, un fossé qui délimite un espace carré de 12 mètres sur 12. Je voulais savoir si ce fossé était contemporain de la nécropole. On a effectué des prélèvements, de la tourbe et du bois notamment: prunellier, noisetier, ronces. La datation par le carbone 14 permettra d’en savoir plus. Pour rappel, les années précédentes, 110 sépultures, dont une moitié d’enfants en bas-âge (la mortalité infantile était importante…), ont été découvertes. Anthony Lefort précise : En règle générale, les enfants jusqu’à 12-14 ans étaient inhumés. C’est vers cet âge qu’il y avait une bascule, comme un rite de passage. Car les adultes étaient quant à eux incinérés et leurs cendres recueillies dans des urnes funéraires. Cependant, un squelette de taille adulte (1,70 m – 1,80 m) vient encore d’être retrouvé, inhumé dans le fossé en question, en parfait état de conservation dans ce sol humide, dans la tourbe.
Galerie de photos = https://actu.fr/normandie/urville-nacqueville_50611/urville-nacqueville-sous-plage-sepultures-gauloises_3006635.html
