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TURQUIE – Hadrianapolis - Works have been resumed, after two years, in the ancient city of Hadrianapolis in the northern province of Karabük’s Eskipazar district. The ancient city is believed to have been established in the first century B.C. and was used as a settlement until the eighth century. Vedat Keleş, the head of the excavations and professor at Ondokuz Mayıs University’s Underwater Archaeology Department, said the previous works focused on underground and protection and that works like an excavation house, mosaic restoration and the covering of a church in the area had been completed. Keleş said the city used to be a center of pilgrimage in ancient times. “Churches and monasteries were built here. This is also the birthplace of Stiylos Alpius, a significant figure in ancient times. The structures are very important here because it is a pilgrimage center. They will be excavated within the scope of a certain plan,” he added. Located three kilometers to the east of Eskipazar, Hadrianapolis was settled in the late Hellenistic, Roman and early Byzantine periods. Archaeological surface surveys have uncovered 14 public buildings and other structures in the ancient city. Among these public buildings are two baths, two churches, a defense structure, rocktombs, a theater, an arched and domed structure, a monumental cultic niche, walls, a villa, other monumental buildings and some religious buildings. The church floors are decorated with mosaics and have images of the rivers of Geon, Phison, Tigris and Euphrates imprinted on them, which are mentioned in the Bible. Various animals are also depicted in the mosaics of the ancient city, which have been likened to the ancient city of Zeugma. Excavation works started in 2003 in Hadrianapolis and have been continuing with intervals.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ancient-pilgrimage-center-unearthed-.aspx?PageID=238&NID=106644&NewsCatID=375
UKRAINE – Zhytomyr - Archaeology proves Zhytomyr is at least one thousand years old. Zhytomyr has a chance to prove its age by scientific means. First archaeological digging has finished at the very heart of the one-thousand-year-old town, at Zamkova hill. Now scientists are studying the artifacts, these should help to set the exact period of the founding of Zhytomyr. The first findings support the legends about establishing the town in the 9th century. To start with, archaeologists go in for a big wash and soak. They soaking the findings in buckets with a special solution. After cleaning, the objects can be studied further. Here are old coins, clayware, ceramic tiles, and pipes. The most important artifacts are bronze buttons made in the 13th century, fragments of glassware and windows of Kyiv Rus period. Historians are pretty sure the findings will prove there was a fairly substantial city here back in Kyiv Rus times. Zhytomyr was first mentioned in written sources in the 14th century. Now scientists hoping to find out more about its history.
VIDEO = http://uatoday.tv/society/clayware-and-tiles-zhytomyr-reveals-ancient-secrets-813713.html
ESPAGNE - Cadix - Le 21 octobre 1805, la flotte française alliée à la marine espagnole affrontaient au large de Cadix les navires anglais commandés par l'amiral Nelson, lors de la célèbre bataille de Trafalgar. L'engagement s'est soldé par une victoire britannique et la perte ou la saisie de la plupart des bateaux français. Parmi eux, le Fougueux, un vaisseau de 74 canons a été abordé et capturé puis détruit par une terrible tempête qui a touché la zone les journées suivant la bataille navale. Après des années de recherches et de fouilles, les scientifiques de l'université de Cadix ont réussi à retrouver de nombreux restes du navire grâce à de nouvelles méthodes de prospection. La tempête de 1805 était "une de ces tempêtes qui ne se produisent qu'une seule fois en plusieurs centaines d'années. A l'exception d'un navire coulé pendant la bataille, le reste des navires naufragés l'ont été à cause de la météo", explique Manuel Bethencourt de l'université de Cadix, qui a dirigé les recherches. La tempête a commencé avec des vents violents qui soufflaient en direction du sud et qui se sont peu à peu orientés vers le nord causant des modifications des courants et de la houle. Pour pouvoir retrouver les restes du navire disloqué, les chercheurs devaient modéliser ces changements. L'occasion s'est présentée en décembre 2009 quand la ville de Cadix a subi un coup de vent du même acabit que celui de 1805. Cette fois, ses caractéristiques ont été complètement enregistrées et des indications tirées des journaux de bord des navires de l'époque ont permis de conclure que les deux évènements climatiques avaient évolué de la même façon. Munis des ces informations, les scientifiques ont réalisé des simulations intégrant plusieurs modèles de dispersion et en "lançant des particules virtuelles qui dériveraient de la même façon que les débris d'un naufrage", précise Manuel Bethencourt. Grâce à ces simulations, il a été possible de déterminer des zones de recherche où la probabilité de trouver des débris étaient haute. L'équipe a alors ciblé la zone de plus haute probabilité et y a découvert de nombreux vestiges archéologiques dont quarante canons et cinq ancres similaires à ceux découverts auparavant et attribués au Fougueux. Il y a de fortes chances que ceux-ci constituent les restes du navire qui n'avaient pas encore été extirpés des eaux, soit les deux-tiers de l'épave. Il faudra effectuer des plongées et ramener d'autres pièces pour en être absolument certain. "Nous avons prouvé que l'utilisation d'outils numériques basés sur des modèles hydrodynamiques et de dispersion est très efficace dans la recherche de débris marins", se réjouit Tomás Fernández Montblanc qui a réalisé les simulations. Et ces modèles pourraient servir à bien autre chose que la recherche d'épaves : "Ils peuvent être utilisés, par exemple, pour estimer la dispersion d'une fuite d'huile d'un navire ou en cas de déversement d'hydrocarbure et aussi pour la recherche de cadavres après un naufrage", conclut le scientifique.
http://www.sciencesetavenir.fr/espace/exploration/les-restes-du-fougueux-coule-pendant-la-bataille-de-trafalgar-retrouves-grace-aux-maths_108452
ROYAUME UNI – Tiddington - A 6,000-year-old Stone Age axe head has been unearthed by an eagle-eyed dog walker in Tiddington. The find underlines the strategic importance of Stratford and Tiddington’s relationship with the River Avon. It is thought that the river would have provided a good source of food and transport.
http://www.stratford-herald.com/62183-neolithic-axe-head-found-tiddington.html
CHINE - Fangmatan - A Chinese archaeologist has announced new findings about an ancient scrap of paper, likely to be evidence of the earliest on record, dating 250 years before Cai Lun invented paper-making technology in China.The piece, about five centimeters long and two centimeters wide, was unearthed as early as 1986 in Fangmatan, an archeological site near Tianshui City in northwest China's Gansu Province. However, it didn't garner attention until 2012, when Li Xiaocen, an archaeologist at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, found the piece had uneven fiber distribution when put under the microscope."The surface of the fragment is yellow and quite rough, and the fibers are randomly yet densely interlaced," said Li. "These are the traits of an ancient paper-making technology, very different from Cai Lun's, that ethnic minorities in Tibet, Yunnan and Xinjiang still use to make Kongming lanterns and transcribe scriptures." Paper is one of the four great inventions of ancient China. A crude type of paper was used as early as the Western Han Dynasty, or about 2,000 years ago. However, Cai Lun, a Chinese eunuch in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), greatly reformed the art of paper-making and has been regarded as the inventor of ancient paper and the paper-making process. To make the Cai Lun paper, artisans dip the mould into a pulp vat, take it out and squeeze the pulp into paper. The Fangmatan piece was made through another method, namely the "paper-pouring" process, during which the pulp is poured onto the surface of a fixed mould to form a sheet of paper. The two methods differ slightly in other processes as well. Li revealed his findings at a recent seminar, attended by over 160 archaeologists from China, Germany, Greece and Peru. Li said the piece, dating back to the Western Han Dynasty, is about 250 years older than Cai Lun's invention. But controversy remains over whether the strip should be identified as real paper. "Further research should be conducted on, for example, the beating degree of the pulp, the entire production process as well as the paper's whiteness," according to Chen Gang, professor with the department of cultural heritage and museology at Fudan University. "But Li's research is helpful for us to understand the full picture of ancient paper-making technology in China."
http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2016-11/29/content_39811994.htm