28-30 MARS 2014 NEWS: Arequipa - Assos - Wycombe - Whitby - Landsjö - Ålborgen - Malayinkeezhu - Moomba Saboo -
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PEROU - 
Arequipa - A pre-inca tomb has been found in Arequipa, in the building where Peruvian writer, Mario Vargas Llosa was born. After four days of investigation, the Ministry of Culture has confirmed that the remains date back to the Churajón culture. The tomb is 1.5 m deep and contains four ceramic pots recognizable as being from the Churajón culture, according to archaeologist Marco López. He said that the Regional Authority of Culture were evaluating whether the tomb would be opened to the public physically or virtually. Churajón culture was a pre-inca culture that developed on both riverbanks of the Chili River Valley which runs through the current city of Arequipa. The remains were found by a group of workers on Thursday, March 20. Peruvian writer and Nobel Prize of Literature recipient, Mario Vargas Llosa was born on the second floor of the building on Av. Parra on the outskirts of Arequipa city. The building was in the process of being converted into a museum by the Regional Government of Arequipa when the tomb was found. The author is due to visit the completed museum on April 14. It is as yet unknown what effect the discovery of the tomb will have on the project.
TURQUIE – 
Assos - Pieces of grills, which date back to 2,200 years ago, have been unearthed in the ancient city of Assos in the northwestern province of Çanakkale’s Ayvacık district. The barbecues are made of earth and kiln. The head of the excavations in the ancient city, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University member Professor Nurettin Aslan said they had found important clues that locals in the area did not fry fish and meat, but grilled them in barbecues, cooking them in a healthier way. Among the findings are earth and kiln barbecues, their tools and cookers, Aslan said, adding, “These are small portable cookers. We see that some of them have the ‘bearded Hermes’ figure.” He said people from the ancient era were eating healthier than that of today. “Some barbecues have high carriers. They are directly out on fire. Because earth is the most fire-resistant material, all these barbecues are made of earth. They are also low-cost,” he said. Aslan said the barbecues were all shaped by hand; some of them were round and some were rectangular in shape. “These barbecues from 2,200 years ago are, in my opinion, healthier and stronger. We think people mostly grilled fish and meat on them, because we know the locals of Assos had never eaten fried foods. They have an abundance of fish because they were living on the coastline. Last year, we found pretty functional plates, where fish was served, as well as hooks,” he said.
ROYAUME UNI – 
Wycombe - A PhD student at the University of Bristol is raising money to undertake a ground-breaking 3D scan of one of the most mysterious sites in the UK - the Hell-Fire Caves of West Wycombe. Hell-Fire Clubs began in London in the 1720s and spread from there to Dublin and Limerick. Each club was very different, but they were usually headed up by landed gentry and saw heavy drinking and countryside retreats – as well as attracting accusations of blasphemy. The Hell-Fire Caves of West Wycombe stretch for a quarter of a mile underground. The man-made caves were hewn from a hill near West Wycombe, and include corridors and banqueting halls. They were built under the direction of Sir Francis Dashwood, who was a wealthy aristocrat with huge political power. His interests included drinking, literature and blasphemy, and the caves were built to reflect these. The Hell-Fire Caves have never been studied before and all analysis of the Hell-Fire Clubs has been by lay historians reliant on documentary evidence, with a lack of archaeological and theoretical analysis. 3D imaging will provide a more interactive map, as well as allowing for in-depth analysis, such as the number of man-hours required to carve the caves, carved symbols, tunnels and the relative size and spacing of the chambers.
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2014/march/hell-fire-caves.html
ROYAUME UNI – 
Whitby Abbey - Archaeologists working at Whitby Abbey, the Benedictine ruins in North Yorkshire which have produced carved stones and the remains of an Anglian cemetery during 20 years of excavations, are preparing to reveal their latest findings from the site as they approach the end of a second week of investigations. Two disconnected walls of a chapel and a ditch from the mid-Saxon period have been discovered so far by English Heritage experts, who expect to date and document the artefacts during the final week before refilling the trenches. Metalworking debris is also thought to have been found. Tweeting from the Abbey, medieval and post-medieval expert Brian Kerr reported a “knackered but happy” team, adding that previous markers, left by archaeologists during excavations in 1999 and 2000, had helped the project.
SUEDE – 
Landsjö / Ålborgen : Two Medieval Ruins. Landsjö in Kimstad is difficult to reach because it’s on a small island in a lake. The visible masonry is in very poor shape due to erosion and quarrying, but there are enormous amounts of collapse material that can cover pretty much anything. The second site, Ålborgen in Vånga, is in way better shape: partly because it hasn’t been roofless for quite as long as Landsjö, partly because it’s been restored, but mainly because it hasn’t been quarried much.
http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2014/03/28/two-medieval-ruins/?
INDE – Malayinkeezhu - Two idols of Lord Murugan and Lord Ganapati were recovered while desilting work was proceeding at an abandoned well near Maniyaravila Block Office on March 16. The idol of Lord Murugan weighed 15.985 kg and was 16 inches in height while that of Lord Ganapati weighed 14.130 kg and was 12 inches in height. On March 17, the police recovered a small idol of Lord Ganapati (Bala Ganapati) from the well. The third idol weighed 155 gm and had a height of four-and-a-half inches. The idols had a total value to the tune of Rs 1.5 crore, according to a court-approved appraiser. The police who suspect that the idols were stashed in the well by some local thieves.
LIBYE – 
Moomba Saboo - An archaeological team from Copenhagen, Denmark has made an astonishing discovery. The team led by Dr. Tobias Rasmussen said that as they were excavating in the Sahara Desert they began to unearth what turned out to be an ancient pyramid. But the pyramid unlike normal pyramids was actually built upside down. Dr. Rasmussen stated that he recalls reading a book back in 1997, that mentioned about Libya's infamous upside down pyramidMoomba Saboo. The doctor said that Moomba Saboo was built by a group of Libyan slaves whose owner wanted to do something different than what the Egyptians were doing with their normal looking pyramids. So he had one of Libya's most respected pyramid designers design a pyramid that was to be built totally upside down. Dr. Rasmussen noted that the job was one of the most intriguing and difficult pyramid constructing jobs in the history of pyramid building.