28 MARS 2018: Jerusalem - Stowmarket - Orkney - Nakagawara - Breadsall - Anyang -
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ISRAEL – 
Jerusalem - The Israeli Nature and Parks Authority announced that a team of archeologists unearthed a trove of rare bronze coins dating from the last years of the Roman-Jewish War (66-73CE) in a cave near the south wall of the Temple Mount on Monday. The discovery was part of the Ophel excavation operated by acclaimed Israeli archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and included dozens of bronze coins as well as numerous fragments of pottery vessels from the difficult four-year rebellion of the Jews of Israel against Roman rule known as the Great Revolt. Mazar’s team believes the coins were left by hidden Jewish residents of Second Temple Jerusalem who sought refuge from the Roman siege in a cave that measures 7 by 14 meters. The coins were dated to the period just prior to the destruction of the Second Temple, years 66-70CE, with most of them dating to the revolt’s final year, or Year Four. Whereas coins in the earlier part of the revolt were decorated with Jewish symbols and bore the paleo-Hebrew words “For the Freedom of Zion,” the coins minted in Year Four, as the revolt began to break down, were etched with “For the Redemption of Zion.”
https://www.jns.org/rare-trove-of-coins-minted-by-jewish-revolt-discovered-in-jerusalem/
ROYAUME UNI – Stowmarket - An archaeological dig in Stowmarket has been kicked up a notch after researchers discovered items dating back to the prehistoric period.So far, both prehistoric and medieval archaeology has been identified on the site – which seems to have excited researchers.
ROYAUME UNI – 
Orkney - A new study could potentially transform our understanding of the way Neolithic people dealt with their dead. Archaeologists excavating Neolithic tombs in Orkney are used to finding jumbled collections of bones that seem unconnected.Now, work by Dr Rebecca Crozier, from the University of Aberdeen, suggests whole bodies were placed in the chambered structures. She said they could have been dismembered after being buried. She told BBC Radio Orkney: "What we're trying to do is look at all the bones and try and understand why they are in the mess that we finding them in. "So we're looking for evidence on the bones to see if there's anything that might indicate how they became so fragmentary. Any cut marks. Any signs of fire damage." . In the past, archaeologists have argued that only partial remains were entombed, perhaps after being left out to be scavenged by birds or animals.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-43547952
JAPON - 
Nakagawara - Shards of 2,000-year-old earthenware unearthed at an archaeological site here depict a group of wooden structures that are the first such clearly decipherable representations to be found in Japan.The artifact, discovered at the Nakagawara site, offers precious clues about the way settlements were built and rituals carried out during the Yayoi Pottery Culture period (300 B.C.A.D. 300), researchers said. When pieced together, the artifact measured 21.5 centimeters by 25.5 cm. The five images, all of various size, showed wooden structures built on stilts with ridge roofs. They also depicted ornamental cornices that are commonly found on Shinto shrine gables. The structure at the center is rather small compared with the others. One has a ladder leading to a raised platform and another has "munamochi-bashira,” an outside post to hold the ridge. “The structure with munamochi-bashira must be a key structure," said Tadashi Kurosaki, the director of the Osaka Prefecture’s Museum of Yayoi Culture. "The etchings were clearly meant to portray in detail a daily scene in the settlement.”
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201803240031.html
ROYAUME UNI – 
Breadsall - Experts have found even more proof of an ancient village dating back thousands of years in Derby. Archaeologists have found pottery and worked flints dating back as far as 4,000 years on Breadsall Hilltop. Diggers have also uncovered an Iron Age roundhouse and a system of ditches running along the edge of the hilltop. “These early settlers were probably attracted to the hilltop, with its good views across the local landscape, and evidence suggests that, in the Iron Age, the settlement consisted of a single house with nearby activity areas.“The findings will certainly help us to understand more fully what life was like here thousands of years ago”.
CHINE – 
Anyang - Archaeologists are convinced they have found the remains of Cao Cao, the most prominent warlord in China 1,800 years ago. Experts at the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology recently concluded that the remains of an adult male in his sixties found at a burial site in central China was Cao Cao, the news portal Red Star News reported on Sunday. Cao Cao was a central figure in China’s Three Kingdoms period (220-280) and later featured as a central character in the classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The archaeologists said they had discovered the ruins of a massive mausoleum park that included two constructions as well as a tunnel.Experts said that such massive mausoleum was unusual at that time, which indicates Cao’s great power. The discovery, made during an archaeological dig that took place in 2016 and 2017, has only just been made public. Historical texts say that Cao made a will that ordered that his burial site should not be marked, but Zhou Ligang, a researcher at the institute who is in charge of the archaeological programme, said that the latest findings showed that Cao Pi, the son who succeeded him, did not follow his father’s will but built a great cemetery to honour his father and emphasise his filial piety. But experts believe that the son later ordered the destruction of the monuments on the surface for fear that his father’s tomb would be targeted by opponents or robbers. This would also explain why experts did not find massive piles of debris at the site. “This means that the demolition was not an act of revenge but was planned,” Zhou said. “If the construction was knocked down by his opponents, there would be plenty of debris at the scene, but at Cao Cao’s mausoleum that is not in that case.”To honour his father, Cao Pi must have ordered that all the debris be cleared, Zhou said. Such findings have bolstered the theory that the remains of the male adult discovered in the main grave room of the mausoleum is likely to be Cao Cao. A smaller grave found near the main grave room is believed to be that of Cao’s first son Cao Ang, who died at a young age, according to Pan Weibin, another expert at the institute. The location of Cao Cao’s burial site has been shrouded in mystery for centuries as the self-appointed chancellor to the last emperor of the Han dynasty ordered a ban on lavish burials, including his own. But the first clues emerged in 2009, when archaeologists seized a stone tablet allegedly found in a tomb in Gaoxixue village in Anyang county, which bore the inscription “King Wu of Wei”, Cao Cao’s posthumous title. Zhou said experts were still trying to figure out the identities of the two women buried in the same grave room as Cao Cao. According to historic texts, Cao Cao was buried with his wife, who died in her seventies but one of the women was in her fifties and the other in her twenties.
