31 JANVIER 2017 NEWS: Hartlepool - Mexique - Yulin - Orthez - Jahangir -
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ROYAUME UNI – 
Hartlepool - Remains of at least six people and the corner of a building believed to date back almost 1,400 years have been uncovered by archaeologists in an alley behind Gladstone Street. They are believed to be from Anglo-Saxon times when Hartlepool was home to one of the most important monasteries in the North of England. Council workmen uncovered some bones close to the surface when they went to lay the foundations for a new wall after the old one collapsed during strong winds last year. Robin Daniels, of Tees Archaeology, said: “We have been on site and excavating and found remains for at least six individuals. “They almost certainly date from the Saxon period, which is anywhere from 650 AD to 800 AD. “They seemed to be up against a stone structure, which suggests it may be a little chapel or something like that. “It is almost certainly part of the monastery that became St Hilda’s. We don’t think these remains are monks however, as there are at least two children and one female. “The cemetery is probably for ordinary people but they are there because they want to be close to the monastery.” According to records, the monastery at Hartlepool named Heruteu – meaning the island of the hart or stag – was founded by the nun Heiu in the 640s AD shortly after Lindisfarne and before Whitby.
http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/workmen-uncover-hartlepool-anglo-saxon-burial-site-while-rebuilding-a-wall-1-8357842
MEXIQUE – 
- Pilgrimage has been a part of daily Maya life for millennia. Warfare, changing trade routes, socioeconomic issues and shifting agricultural practices are the most frequently argued explanations for ancient migrations, but how did religious beliefs affect Maya migration? What can archaeological and ethnographic study reveal about the significance of Maya religious pilgrimage? Both cultural and archaeological evidence from the rainforests of Chiapas, Mexico and Petén, Guatemala indicate that Maya beliefs followed Mesoamerican tropes of population movement to sacred places in search of a homeland and another place to live. Pilgrimage ritual established ties to gods and ancestors residing in ritual landscapes, which attracted Maya populations seeking their guidance and protection in a new land.
http://www.niutoday.info/2017/01/30/archaeologist-explores-history-of-maya-pilgrimage/
CHINE - Yulin - Archaeologists have discovered a large Neolithic ruin dating back more than 5,000 years in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The site, covering over one million square meters, was found in Yulin City following a six-month excavation, according to the provincial archaeology institute. Dwellings and ditches made between 3000 B.C. and 1000 B.C. have been discovered in seven sites. The ruin is identified as belonging to the late Yangshao Culture period and the early Longshan Culture period of the Neolithic Age. The Yangshao Culture originated on the middle reaches of the Yellow River and is considered an important part of Chinese civilization.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-01/30/c_136021260.htm
FRANCE – 
Orthez - Les archéologues de l'Inrap Aquitaine (l'institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives) viennent de faire une découverte spectaculaire à Orthez, sur le chantier de la future crèche, entre l’hôpital et la clinique : un charnier de plus de 20 squelettes. Il s'agit d'une fosse commune où l'on a enseveli sans cercueil et dans le plus grand désordre les cadavres de ce qui semblent être des soldats de l'époque napoléonienne. Les archéologues appellent cela une sépulture de catastrophe. La fosse mesure cinq mètres de long et deux mètres de large. Les fouilles ne sont pas encore terminées mais on pense que le charnier contient les dépouilles de 22 personnes. Il n'y a pas de cercueil. Les corps semblent avoir été déposés là dans leurs tenues de soldats, sans le moindre égard. En plus des ossements il a également été trouvé des munitions (un boulet et des balles) ainsi que des boutons de guêtres et de vareuses. On sait que le 27 février 1814, dans les environs d'Orthez, s'est déroulée une bataille très meurtrière entre l'armée Napoléonienne et ses ennemis anglais et portugais. Un des premiers épisodes de la guerre d'indépendance de l'Espagne. On pense donc que ces soldats là sont tombés sur ce champ d'honneur là. Vu le peu de soin porté à l'inhumation, on suppose qu'il s'agit de soldats ennemis. Mais les analyses en laboratoire vont tenter de le déterminer.
IRAN – 
Jahangir Dome - Public Relations Office quoted supervisor of the exploration program in Jahangir Dome, Leila Khosravi as saying research works of the exploration team in the area of Jahangir Dome in line with the continuation of archeological studies in the Kangir River basin, resulted in the discovery and appearance of architectural spaces and unparalleled plaster works with animal (Pegasus), human and plant motifs. Referring to the fact that the expanded Jahangir Dome was one of the three areas brought under archeological explorations in the course of the construction of Kangir Dam, Leila Khosravi said with regard to the insufficient archeological research especially on the construction of that type of residential textures and condition of cities and villages of the historic era in west of Iran which continued their lives in the advent of Islam, the necessity and importance of implementation of the program was quite obvious. The archeologist said that the most important portable findings in the explorations were potteries among which noticeable pottery of the Parthian era in the layers beneath and remarkable pottery of the Sassanid era simultaneously with the construction of the buildings and small amount of Islamic pottery related to the phases for tribal settlement. She referred to the stone, metal, glass and animal bone and plant remains findings among objects discovered in the explorations and said stone findings included millstone, mortar, weight stone, and grindstone which determine the type of living in the tribal phase for us. Stressing that the evidence shows that the dome had been built with a prior plan, she said the special position of the area in the central Zagros region and its location on one of the strategically important ancient routes of Mesopotamia and the Kangir River could be one of the effective parameters in the shaping of this settlement in the historic era. She said gypsum plaster has been the main material for building the walls and half-baked half-beaten plaster has been the basic mortar used in the construction of the building as well as bricks in different sizes, which have been used to cover the ceilings. According to the archeologist, construction of dome covering with brick and stone, large halls with vault, use of stone and plaster material in the architecture and use of springing arch for covering the roofs of the rooms are the heritage of the Sassanid era, which are seen in this building.
