21 AOUT 2024 NEWS
CHINE - 
- Guangzhou - A total of 148 tombs from various periods were excavated in a zoo of Guangzhou, the capital of south China's Guangdong Province, between April and July this year.Among them, four tombs were from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), eight tombs were from the Jin and Southern Dynasties (265-589), 15 tombs were from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and 121 tombs were from the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911). A total of 196 pieces (sets) of pottery, porcelain, bronze, jade, bead ornaments and other cultural relics were also unearthed. Notably, some of these cultural relics have seldom been found in the province's archaeological discoveries in recent years
148 ancient tombs found in south China's Guangdong | Ukrainian news (ukranews.com)
COLOMBIE - 
- Serranía de la Lindosa - The Serranía de la Lindosa in the Colombian Amazon hosts one of the most spectacular global rock art traditions. Painted in vibrant ochre pigments, the artwork depicts abstract and figurative designs – including a high diversity of animal motifs – and holds key information for understanding how Amazonians made sense of their world. We compare a zooarchaeological assemblage with painted depictions of animals at the Cerro Azul site, and utilise relevant ethnographies and ethnohistories. A lack of direct proportional relationships between the animal representation in the art and zooarchaeological remains alludes to the complex socio-cultural interconnection between Amazonian communities and their ritualised environments. We discuss the benefits and limitations of quantitative categorisation and explore Indigenous ontologies, highlighting Amazonian perspectives on human-animal relationships.
TURQUIE - 
- Aigai - Archaeologists have uncovered an agora (city square) during excavations in the ancient city of Aigai, west of Manisa. Aigai, located within the borders of the Yuntdağıköseler neighborhood in the Yunusemre district, is one of the 12 Aeolian cities established in western Anatolia. Archaeological excavations and research conducted at Aigai since 2004, show that the city was founded around 700 BCE. Historical records suggest that it was an important commercial center during Hellenistic times. Bull-head reliefs and inscriptions honoring the god Apollo were discovered on the square’s columns during the excavations, which are still ongoing in the agora, which is situated directly next to the parliament building. Sezgin, who noted that the ancient city is 2,200 years old, emphasized that this date corresponds to the construction of the agora and the city’s parliament building, and mentioned that they have some archaeological evidence supporting this. Stating that they came across interesting findings during the excavations in the agora, Sezgin said: “We found bull-headed reliefs under the roofs of stoas [columned porticos], which we are not very familiar with in the ancient world. We think they are important, as these bullheads are usually because they are typically associated with gods. We have found examples of this in several places in the ancient world. It is most likely related to the god of Apollo as we also found inscriptions related to the god Apollo near the area we are working on.” “These types of stoas usually have a very simple architectural structure, but if they are related to a votive offering, it is possible to think that these embossed bullheads are related to a ritual, to the gods. This may be related to a major war or a votive offering made to the gods related to the reconstruction of the city,” Sezgin added.
The 2,200-year-old Agora of Aigai ancient city comes to light - Arkeonews
ALLEMAGNE - 
- Klotzow - During construction work in Klotzow (Vorpommern-Greifswald district), one of the most spectacular archaeological finds in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in recent years has come to light: a boulder with a depiction of a man from the 12th century. A presumably 900-year-old, very rare picture stone has been discovered during construction work on a house in Klotzow near Anklam. The hewn granite, one meter high, 60 centimeters wide, and 40 centimeters deep, shows an engraved human figure holding a cross in front of its belly. A picture stone, image stone, or figure stone is a decorative stone slab, typically made of limestone, that was raised in Scandinavia during the Viking or Germanic ages. Gotland is home to the majority of these stones. Most likely, all of the stones were probably erected as memorial stones though they weren’t usually placed next to graves. The discovery was made by Peter Wittenberg, who worked on the foundations of his house. According to Peter Wittenberg, the owner of the house in Klotzow and the person who found the engraved stone, it was horizontally positioned in the ground next to the house wall, with the image facing up. At some point, it might have been used as a step. It could have had a bricked-up door at one point. The earth was only ten or twenty centimeters above the stone. Wittenberg believes the house was constructed in the eighteenth century and subsequently refurbished. The newly discovered picture stone from Klotzow is the only one to date that shows a figure with a cross in front of its body. It therefore stands to reason that the figure is a Christian dignitary or at least a follower of Christianity. Such evidence from the Christianisation period is extremely rare. The Christianisation of Pomerania goes back to Bishop Otto von Bamberg, whose first missionary journey will be 900 years old in 2024. To mark the occasion, the Wolgast Museum is hosting the exhibition ‘World in Transition – Otto von Bamberg and the Christianisation of Pomerania 900 years ago’, which also features numerous items on loan from the Archaeological Archive of the State Office for Culture and Monument Preservation. State archaeologist Detlef Jantzen said that the person depicted is likely a clerical dignitary, possibly Bishop Otto of Bamberg (around 1060-1139), the missionary of Pomerania.
TURQUIE - 
- 4,000-year-old seal were found at the Tavşanlı Mound (or Tavşanlı Höyük) in Türkiye’s Kütahya province—located in the west of the Anatolian peninsula. Dubbed the “Heart of Kütahya” over its shape detected through aerial footage, the “Tavşanlı Mound” located in the namesake district is unearthed through the cooperation of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University (BŞEU), along with the support of the Tavşanlı Municipality. According to archaeologist Erkan Fidan at Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University, who led the research, the mound is the oldest settlement in the area, and likely served as the capital of the region in the Bronze Age. Evidence suggests there was a large-scale attack on the city around 1700 B.C. that resulted in the entire settlement being burned to the ground. This year’s excavations yielded important findings. Among them, a 4000-year-old clay seal made of faience stands out. The material defined as faience in the Second Millennium BC is terminologically different from its current meaning. In the II Millennium BC, faience was obtained by coating a lumpy (consolidated, sintered) quartz core/body with glaze. Faience were probably produced simultaneously in the Near East and Egypt in the IVth millennium BC.
4,000-Year-Old Seal Found at Tavşanlı Mound in Western Türkiye - Arkeonews
ITALIE -
Gran Carro, - During work in Lake Bolsena, a volcanic lake in central Italy, at the submerged archaeological site of Gran Carro, a 3,000-year-old terracotta female figure has been discovered. Remarkably, after 3000 years of submersion, the figure still bears the fingerprints of its maker. The unfinished clay figure of a woman, dating from between the 10th and 9th centuries BC, looks more like a first draft than a ready-made piece of art. However, the fact that the clay worker did not fully finish the figure does not prevent the discovery from being considered exceptional and unique, and from shedding light on little-known aspects of daily life in the early Iron Age in southern Etruria. Researchers believe that the sculpture was likely a votive figure used in domestic rituals. This idea has been supported by researchers’ discovery of other examples of similar figurines from subsequent periods, pointing to a long-held tradition of votive figurine creation in the area. “This important archaeological context that is giving us aspects of daily life from the first Iron Age (late 10th-century B.C.E – early 9th-century B.C.E), [of which] still little is known in southern Etruria,” researchers said.
3,000-Year-Old Iron Age Statuette Discovered in Italian Lake, With Fingerprints of Maker - Arkeonews
BULGARIE - 
Plovdiv, -In Plovdiv, in southern Bulgaria, archaeologists have discovered over 500 ancient coins and a gold template for making jewelry from different periods. The coins were found during salvage excavations at the foot of the Old Town, in the Philipopol-Trimontium-Plovdiv historical zone, which is a group cultural monument. It is located next to the Eastern Gate of Philippopolis, BTA reports. The coins found are mostly bronze and prove that the area has been inhabited for more than 2500 years. “The coins are subject to restoration and I cannot say if they are only bronze because sometimes silver coins have a thick patina and are difficult to identify in the field,” Davydova explains. The gold template was found in a secondary excavated pit and has yet to be analyzed as the site has multiple layering. The template was definitely not for coin production. It was probably made for ornamental purposes and turned into a kind of jewelry. A lot of pottery material from different eras was also found.
ESOPAGNE - x Guadalete - Archaeologists in Spain have uncovered a trove of ancient Roman settlements that could point to the existence of a “hidden empire” previously unknown to historians. When researchers from University of Cádiz embarked on their exploration in the Guadalete area in 2023, they only expected to find a few remnants of Roman influence. Instead, they unearthed 57 sites revealing a complex interconnected web of settlements that may reshape the understanding of Roman history in the area. The sites were scattered across the Spanish regions of Arcos de la Frontera, Bornos Villamartin and Puerto Serrano and were originally linked by trade and communication routes along the Guadalete river. Experts believe the sheer number of settlements and their strategic locations suggest the area was far more significant during the Roman era than previously thought. Archaeologists said in a report: “The objective is to understand the interaction between the Bay of Cádiz and the settlements in the Guadalete River depression during the Roman period, an aspect that has remained practically unknown until now.” They believe the interaction could reveal how the Romans integrated this inland region into their broader empire across Europe. The Roman settlement of the Guadalete River is believed to date back to the Roman conquest of Spain in 264BC, but researchers are still working to confirm the exact dates of the newly discovered structures.
Archaeologists unearth ‘hidden empire’ after discovering long-lost Roman city | The Independent