28 FEVRIER 2011
- 28 FEVRIER
- BANGLADESH – 
Mahasthangarth - Archaeologists of a French excavation team recently unearthed an ancient brick wall of Maurya dynasty during a Bangladesh-France joint excavation. The team also found a huge number of Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW) and Barind soil layer along with other objects, said team members. Besides, a Bangladeshi excavation team dug out brick-built structures of Muslim dynasties. The joint team started archaeological digs on January 21 in the south-east corner of Mahasthangarh, once a fortified city. “The defence wall was constructed at least 2200 years ago to protect the city,” said French archaeologist Barbara Faticoni. A brick structure has been found almost in the same layer along with other archaeological objects, including terracotta ball and oil lamp, she added. Barbara noted that the French team extracted another ancient brick wall and three punch mark copper coins digging seven-metres in the ground in the same area last year. The five-metre wide and seven-metre high wall was erected using different sizes of bricks. The coins were used in between late Maurya and Sunga dynasties. According to archaeologist Ernelle Berlient, the team explored a huge number of NBPW and Barind soil in another eight-metre multi-layer chasm near the Maurya wall.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=175698
- EGYPTE – 
Assouan - Last night looters sneaked into the southern quarry of the upper Egyptian city of Aswan in an attempt to cut and remove the statue of King Ramses II. The statue is half buried in the sand as it was originally cut in red granite and left in situ. Following an immediate report from the quarry’s security guards, archaeologists along with security personal headed directly to the site where they caught the thieves red handed. The statue is six meters high, 175 centimeters in width and eight centimeters thick. It depicts king Ramses II in the shape of the god Osiris. The statue is in a very well preserved condition and is one of the quarry’s landmarks. He added that it remains unknown why ancient Egyptians carved the statue and left it in the quarry. The site also includes several unfinished artefacts, which explains the quarrying and sculpting system used by ancient Egyptians at the time. Other unfinished statues and huge basins from the Graeco Roman era are also located there. The quarry was used by ancient Egyptian to cut granite blocks and for the constructions of temples and carving colossi.
- SYRIE – 
Maysara - The discovery of a Neolithic settlement at al-Maysara archaeological site in 2003, 4 km south east of Daraa governorate, represented a turning point in the history of archaeological discoveries in the governorate. A preliminary archaeological survey of Yasser Abu Noktah revealed caves, stone grinders and stone mortars and pestles in the area. In a statement to SANA, Director of Daraa Museum Ayham al-Zoubi said a number of archaeological surveys over the last few years indicated to the presence of prehistoric societies at al-Maysara archaeological site. He added that the studies of archaeological findings uncovered at the site showed that they belong to the Neolithic Period (8000-5500 B.C.). Excavation works in 2004 unearthed a number of stone scrapers, awls, spears, arrowheads and axes of different sizes generally used for daily life activities, farming and hunting, he said. He pointed out that the tools are very much similar to those prevailed at the beginning of the 10th millennium, marking the Mesolithic and Epipaleolithic period. Damascus University archaeological mission has also unearthed 1200 firestones dating back to 250000 B.C. at the archaeological sites of Wadi al-Sharar and al-Khawabi, near to al-Maysara site. (SANA)
- FRANCE – Castanet- Tolosan - L'histoire du Lauragais est marquée, à l'époque gallo-romaine, par une forte densité de population. Les Romains, arrivés en 118 avant J.C. ont construit la via aquitania, route empierrée qui court notamment de Narbonne à Toulouse et qui passe à proximité de Castanet, porte du Lauragais et lieu de passage. Ainsi que la mairie communique : « Le diagnostic archéologique sera effectué par l' INRAP sur une partie du périmètre de la ZAC du centre ville. Ce diagnostic préventif intervient dans le cadre de la création de la ZAC du centre ville. En effet, cette zone est susceptible de renfermer des vestiges gallo-romains. Le diagnostic archéologique mené par l'INRAP a pour objectif de détecter, caractériser, circonscrire et dater les possibles vestiges gallo-romains sur cette zone. A l'aide d'une pelle mécanique, le sol va être remanié - c'est ce qu'on appelle le diagnostic - afin d'identifier d'éventuelles traces d'occupation humaine. Ainsi, des sondages, appelés plus communément des tranchées, vont être creusés à intervalles réguliers. Pour cela, l'archéologue observe et repère d'éventuelles anomalies de terrain : différentes couleurs ou textures qui peuvent alors correspondre à des fondations de mur, des fosses à détritus, des fosses funéraires. A la fin de ces investigations, l'INRAP rendra ses conclusions sur la nature du site. ».
- FRANCE – Cahors - L'étude des sols préalable à la construction du Centre d'hébergement et d'accueil international (CHAI), sur le site de l'ancienne imprimerie France Quercy (plaine du Pal), à proximité du pont Valentré, a permis aux archéologues de faire une découverte exaltante : les fondations d'un bâtiment et d'autres vestiges historiques qui comprendraient une ou plusieurs absides datant du Ier siècle après J. C. Il est encore prématuré d'affirmer que des absides sont bien présentes dans ce sol. Une simple trace circulaire ne peut à elle seule confirmer ce type d'interprétation - Aujourd'hui, aucune activité ne règne sur ce précieux terrain qui n'a livré qu'une partie de son mystère. « Nous serons informés, avec tous les détails attendus, dans un peu plus d'un mois. C'est le délai nécessaire au travail de l'Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (INRAP) qui doit d'abord transmettre son rapport détaillé des fouilles à l'état- Chacun sait que la terre de la belle cité médiévale recèle de fabuleux trésors enfouis à quelques centimètres de nos pas. Sur le site de l'ancienne imprimerie désaffectée, qui a longtemps été squattée par des personnes sans domicile fixe, la terre remuée pour le besoin des fouilles archéologiques a été soigneusement remise en place.« C'est la règle en pareille circonstance. Nous sommes obligés d'agir ainsi par mesure de sécurité dans l'attente du rapport de l'INRAP », explique Laure Courget attentive à ce travail de longue haleine. Les vestiges de l'amphithéâtre, mis à jour lors des travaux du parking souterrain, ainsi que le temple sorti du ventre du chantier de la maternité, ont déjà comblé les archéologues et les professionnels du patrimoine qui ont fait de Cahors une mine inépuisable de richesses inestimables.
- TURQUIE – Bosphore - The discovery of “archaeological stuff” on the Bosphorus seabed kept the Marmaray Tunnel from being completed by the end of 2010, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Saturday during his visit to the underground project site. “Actually, the Marmaray [project] did not have to be postponed to October 2013,” Erdoğan said, adding that the tunnel could have been finalized in 2010 but was hindered by many barriers. “First [they said] there was archaeological stuff, then it was clay pots, then this, then that. Is any of this stuff more important than people?” the prime minister asked, comments that were criticized by archaeology experts. Countless artifacts pertaining to prehistoric eras, the first agricultural societies and an ancient Bosphorus village have been extracted from Yenikapı’s seabed, making it “one of the world’s most precious underwater collections,” said Necmi Karul, a professor at Istanbul University’s Prehistory Department, according to a report by daily Radikal on Sunday. Karul said the findings were unique in the world and indicated how important Istanbul and Anatolia had been since prehistoric times.
- ROYAUME-UNI - 
Eardisley Castle - A dig at Eardisley Castle in Herefordshire is being funded by a £50,000 Heritage Lottery grant. Professional archaeologists will be working alongside volunteers at the 11th century motte and bailey castle. Malcolm Mason, chair of Eardisley History Group, said: "There are still many questions to be answered about how the castle was built, and how it changed over time." The geophysical surveys, carried out by the Herefordshire-based firm Archaeophysica, have provided targets for the dig - For 600 years Eardisley Castle was the home of the Baskerville family, one of the powerful "Marcher" lords. The Bishop of Hereford was imprisoned there in 1263, during the Barons Revolt. The castle may have been plundered by the Welsh during their revolt of 1403. The Baskervilles continued to live there until the 1680s when the estate was sold to William Barnesley, a cloth merchant from London. He demolished the castle and built the present house on the site.