29 NOVEMBRE 2016 NEWS: Novéant - Gamaches - Taoyuan - Cambridgeshire - Plovdiv - Huanghua - Nanchang -
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FRANCE- 
Novéant - De récents travaux agricoles ont permis de mettre au jour une portion de l’aqueduc gallo-romain qui traverse Novéant. Dégagé par des archéologues, ce tronçon apporte de précieuses informations sur sa construction. Le tracé de l’aqueduc romain est assez bien connu, de Gorze jusqu’au plateau de Frescaty. Une carte dressée par des moines bénédictins en 1769, des mises au jour au hasard des travaux et une récente campagne de photographies aériennes le situent avec une relative précision. Ce ne fut donc pas une grande surprise lorsque de récents travaux agricoles ont fait apparaître une partie de tronçon. Sur la vingtaine de mètres où l’aqueduc a été fortuitement dégagé, un regard est apparu. Ces conduits de visite permettaient de descendre dans le conduit pour y effectuer des visites de contrôle et des réparations. Espacés régulièrement, certains ont été repérés lors de prospections aériennes, entre Novéant et Gorze. Mais, ici, c’est la première fois que l’un d’entre eux a pu être fouillé. De section carrée - environ 1 m sur 1 m - l’intérieur du puits était comblé. Les archéologues ont procédé à son déblaiement. Rapidement, la voûte du conduit apparut. Un espace suffisant leur permet de se glisser dans l’aqueduc, sur une vingtaine de mètres. À la base du regard, le sol est atteint a donc été dégagé. Constitué d’un mortier de chaux et de tuileau, il repose sur un radier de blocs calcaires posés de chant. Les premières observations montrent que l’aqueduc a été affecté par des glissements de terrain. Le regard lui-même a fait l’objet d’importantes réparations. En surface, une autre équipe s’est attaquée au dégagement de l’aqueduc. Nouvelle surprise ! Contrairement à toutes les observations faites en d’autres endroits, il est ici recouvert d’une dalle de mortier horizontale. Cette dalle se poursuit au-delà du conduit et pénètre dans la colline. Apparut alors une série d’arcs, de plus de 3 mètres de diamètre, formant des alvéoles comblées volontairement de gros blocs de calcaire. Cette structure est inédite sur l’aqueduc. Elle semble avoir été édifiée pour consolider le conduit, le mettre à l’abri de la poussée des terres et favoriser le drainage des eaux. Un sondage, effectué une vingtaine de mètres vers le sud, a fait apparaître le même système. Cette découverte apporte des indications importantes sur la connaissance de l’aqueduc de Gorze à Metz.Les Romains semblent avoir pris en compte les glissements de terrain encore d’actualité aux pieds des côtes de Moselle. Long d’environ 22km, l’aqueduc romain amenait l’eau depuis la source des Bouillons, à Gorze jusque Metz. On a peu d’indications sur la date de sa construction et la durée de son utilisation. Dans l’état actuel des connaissances, on date sa construction de la première moitié du IIe siècle de notre ère. Il aurait encore été entretenu à la fin du IVe siècle.
FRANCE – 
Gamaches - 49 artefacts lithiques ont été trouvés dans les colluvions, à 0,70-0,80 m sous le terrain naturel. Deux grattoirs sont probablement paléolithiques. L'essentiel du corpus se rattache à une industrie lithique laminaire et lamellaire. Quelques grandes lames à patine bleue et une typique pointe de Malaurie sont attribuables au Paléolithique final ou terminal. Des produits laminaires plus petits pourraient être contemporains du Mésolithique. Enfin, une pièce est un pic du néolithique moyen. Ces artefacts pourraient témoigner d’occupations préhistoriques situées plus haut sur le coteau.
CHINE - Taoyuan - Archaeologists have found ruins of a pentagonal structure believed to have been a tribal meeting hall or a leader's office from 6,000 years ago, authorities in North China's Shanxi Province said Monday. The semi-subterranean house, discovered at the Neolithic ruins at Taoyuan, a village in the city of Linfen, covered a total area of 90 square meters, with surviving walls reaching a maximum of 50 centimeters, said Xue Xinming, a researcher with Shanxi provincial institute of archaeology. The walls were painted with a mixture of grass and mud, and several holes were found where wooden pillars were located to support the house and walls, said Xue. A cylinder-shaped fireplace was also found underground in the house, which was used for heating, cooking and lighting. According to Xue, the pentagonal building was rare for that period. "Such a big building perhaps was an office for a tribe leader or a public venue for meetings or worship ceremonies of a major tribe," he said.
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1020782.shtml
ROYAUME UNI – 
Cambridgeshire - A gigantic gold torc, so big one expert thinks it may have been worn to protect a pregnant woman, has been found by a metal detectorist in a ploughed field in Cambridgeshire. It was made from 730 grams of almost pure gold more than 3,000 years ago, and is regarded as the best found in England in more than a century. The workmanship closely resembles one from nearby Grunty Fen, found in 1844 by a man cutting peat, now in the collection of the archaeology museum of Cambridge University. However, like many torcs that were apparently buried for ritual reasons, that one had been coiled up. The find site is within 50 miles of Must farm, the extraordinary bronze age village in the shadow of a chip factory on the edge of Peterborough. Torcs are usually described as collars, with the longer ones thought by some to have been worn as belts, but Wilkin checked in shops and said this torc was longer than even extra-large waist measurements of men’s trousers. Wilkin said they were never found buried with the remains of the dead, and were clearly associated with life – he wondered if it could have been loaned by the tribe to be worn as protection by a woman in late pregnancy. Alternatively, he thought it could have been a magnificent ornament to give extra value to an animal about to be sacrificed, adding: “It would fit a goat or a sheep.” The site and the finder have remained anonymous
BULGARIE – 
Plovdiv - A newly-discovered inscription dates the construction of the ancient theatre in Plovdiv in the 90s of the 1st century AD, and not in 116-117 AD, as it was thought so far, Plovdiv Mayor Ivan Totev told journalists Monday. Totev was accompanied by archaeologist Maya Martinova and Nikolai Sharankov, who deciphered the inscription. The find also proved wrong the claim that the wonderful structure was built during the reign of Emperor Trajan, as it was thought until now. It was built during the reign of Emperor Domitian. The inscription is in Old Greek and was found at recently uncovered stairs of the theatre, Sharankov explained. It is the oldest inscription providing information not only about Philippopolis (as Plovdiv was called) but also about the institutions in it, the convention of the assembly of the province of Thrakia and the city's leading role during the reign of Emperor Domitian. The inscription, which consists of two fragments, will be put together and exhibited in the exhibition halls beneath the theatre stage, Martinova said
http://www.bta.bg/en/c/NW/id/1469023
CHINE – 
Huanghua - Archaeologists are conducting excavations of several salt-boiling sites constructed during the Tang Dynasty (618—907) in Huanghua, Hebei province. The majority of the sites are intact, although some are damaged. The diameters of the sites range from 1 to 6 meters. There are also a number of ash ditches and holes around the salt-boiling areas.
http://en.people.cn/n3/2016/1128/c90000-9148001.html
CHINE - 
Nanchang - Archaeologists believe they may have discovered two missing chapters of the Analects of Confucius – one of the most important works of Confucianism – that were lost during a time of warfare about 1,800 years ago. The Analects is a collection of sayings and ideas of the ancient philosopher Confucius, written and compiled by his followers. There are believed to have been several versions, with the one widely in use today, featuring 20 chapters, compiled by a scholar during the Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 24). Another version of the Analects, passed on by scholars from the Qi State, is thought to have been lost during the Warring States Period – a time before the unification of China at the start of the Qin dynasty (221-201BC) – when books were burned and Confucian scholars were buried alive. The Qi version was believed to have two extra chapters: “Asking the emperor” and “Knowing the way”. Archaeologists last year uncovered about 5,000 bamboo slips – the main medium used for writing before the introduction of paper in China – during a dig inside the Marquis Haihun mausoleum near Nanchang in Jiangxi province. A recent translation of one slip showed the words “knowing the way”, which archaeologists and historians believe is very likely to refer to the Qi version of the Analects of Confucius. Marquis Haihun, or Liu He, held the position of emperor for only 27 days before being overthrown because of his “lack of talent and morals”. His royal mausoleum, which covers an area of 40,000 square metres and contains eight tombs and a chariot burial site, is the best preserved from the Western Han period. Artefacts, including a huge amount of money, gold, bronze and other relics, are helping to shed light on life during that period.Chi Hong, head of the Jiangxi Culture Department, said the painstaking work to preserve the delicate bamboo slips would be finished by the end of this year. The writing found on them could be read and interpreted next yea. However, Yang Zhaoming, president of the Confucius Research Institute of China, said that even if the missing chapters re-emerged, it would not have much effect on Confucian studies. Yang said every version of the Analects came from one original master, and that the thoughts in the missing two chapters might simply have been expressed in other chapters of the existing versions.