ONLINE COURSES / COURS A DISTANCE
WINTER TERM : APRIL 2020
REGISTER NOW
NORVEGE – Gjellestad - A Viking ship and old settlements which were discovered at Gjellestad outside Halden in 2018 have now been brought to life by researchers from Østfold University College. The digital grave site is based on archaeological findings and historical research. During the autumn of 2019, sections of the Viking ship, five longhouses and eight burial sites were discovered during the excavations close to Jellehaug, which can be seen from the E6 highway outside Halden in Norway.
https://partner.sciencenorway.no/archaeology-hiof-history/the-viking-ship-at-gjellestad-comes-to-life-online/1659364
CAMBODGE – Angkor - The Apsara National Authority (ANA) has discovered a mysterious 1,000-year-old structure of a wooden building at the bottom of a pond after the Angkor Wat temple’s conservation team completed restoring its northern cave. The deputy director at ANA’s Angkor International Research and Documentation Center, Im Sokrithy, told The Post on Thursday that the discovery is a mystery buried at the bottom of the pond for almost 1,000 years. “We have never seen such a thing in any other place, and especially not in Angkor Wat. Khmer and foreign archaeologists have been researching Angkor areas for more than 150 years, but we have never discovered anything like this,” he said. Sokrithy said the ANA will continue to research the structure’s history to ascertain the exact age of the building. “It may have been built in the 12th century of the Angkor Wat era as a small, not very large wooden building, in the pond at the heart of Angkor Wat,” he said.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mysterious-century-old-structure-found-bottom-angkor-pond
INDE – Kumbhalgarh - Kumbhalgarh is a Mewar fortress and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Aravalli Hills, in the Rajsamand district in western India. The fort was built during the 15th century by Rana Kumbha, the ruler of the Mewar kingdom of western India. Out of the 84 forts in his dominion, Rana Kumbha is said to have built 32 of them, of which Kumbhalgarh is the largest and most elaborate. The site was first occupied with a defensive structure, built by King Samprati of the Maura Age on account of strategic importance during the 6th century. The present fort is built on a hilltop 1,100 m (3,600 ft) above sea level on the Aravalli range, the fort has a perimeter wall that extends 36 km (22 mi), making it one of the longest walls in the world (described as the “Great Wall of India”) with seven fortified gateways.
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2020/03/kumbhalgarh-the-great-wall-of-india/126940
IRAQ – Girsu - Archaeologists recently unearthed a 5,000-year-old cultic area that held fiery feasts, animal sacrifices and ritual processions dedicated to Ningirsu, a Mesopotamian warrior-god, at the site of Girsu (also known as Tello) in Iraq. In an area of Girsu known as the Uruku (a name which means "the sacred city"), archaeologists excavated more than 300 broken ceremonial ceramic cups, bowls, jars and spouted vessels along with a large number of animal bones. The items were within or near a "favissa" (ritual pit) that was 8.2 feet (2.5 meters) deep. One of the most striking objects the archaeologists found was a bronze figurine shaped like a duck, with eyes made out of shell. The object may have been dedicated to Nanshe, a goddess associated with water, marshlands and aquatic birds. Rey and Greenfield said that the cups and goblets they found were probably used in a religious feast before being ritually discarded in the pit, while the bones — which were from sheep, cow, deer, gazelle, fish, goat, pig and birds — were likely the remains of animals that were either consumed or killed for ritual sacrifices. The area has a thick layer of ash that was likely left over from large ritual fires. The team also found eight ash-filled oval structures that were likely the remains of lanterns or floor lamps. Archaeologists believe that the cultic area was in use during a time period called the "early dynastic," which lasted between 2950-2350 B.C. Cuneiform tablets found at Girsu in the late 19th and early 20th century describe the religious feasting and processions that the cultic area was used for. The tablets say that a religious feast in honor of Ningirsu was carried out twice a year and lasted for three or four days, Rey and Greenfield said. During the festival, a religious procession began at the center of Girsu and crossed the city's territory before arriving at the "Gu'edena," an area that may have been located just outside Girsu — and then turned back and ended at Girsu's center.
https://www.livescience.com/girsu-cult-discovered.html