L’objet a été trouvé grâce à un détecteur de métaux par un amateur de 21 ans près de Sudbury, dans le Suffolk. La lanterne, qui a été fabriquée entre le 1er et le 3ème siècle après J-C, a été offerte au musée régional par le propriétaire du terrain où elle se trouvait. Selon la conservatrice des musées de Colchester et d’Ipswich, Emma Hogarth, qui a restauré l’objet, il s’agit d’un exmaple rare d’artisanat très raffiné. Selon les archéologues, le British Museum de Londres ne possède que des fragments de telles lanternes. L’exemplaire complet le plus semblable a été découvert dans les vestiges de Pompéi, près de Naples en Italie. On trouvait au 2ème siècle de nombreuses villas romaines et vastes propriétés terriennes dans le Suffolk. La lanterne ressemble à une lampe-tempête contemporaine. On suppose que la flamme était protégée par une plaque de corne polie jusqu’à en devenir translucide, aujourd’hui décomposée. [...]

L’archéologue Geneviève Treyvaud, doctorante et chargée de cours au Département d’histoire, a supervisé pendant cinq semaines, soit jusqu’au 14 août, le chantier-école en archéologie sur le site de fouilles de l’ancien fort Saint-Jean, à Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Ce deuxième été de fouilles a permis de mettre au jour des vestiges du bastion nord-ouest du fort construit en 1748, mais surtout de la fondation d’un bâtiment qui devait se situer à l’intérieur du premier fort construit au même endroit en 1666. «La construction “poteau sur sol” est typique du 17e siècle, explique-t-elle. Cette découverte permet de localiser le fort de 1666.» Ce chantier est placé sous la direction du professeur Réginald Auger du Département d’histoire. En juin, en compagnie de Michel Plourde, archéologue et chargé de cours au Département d’histoire, Geneviève Treyvaud a supervisé quatre semaines de fouilles dans la réserve amérindienne d’Odanak, près de Sorel. Les travaux, qui se poursuivront durant quatre autres étés, ont pour objectif de localiser le fort d’Odanak. Ce fort a été érigé au début du 18e siècle par des Abénakis pour des Abénakis. Parmi la centaine d’artéfacts découverts cet été, mentionnons une pointe de flèche datée de 4 000 ans, des tessons de poterie amérindienne et une pierre à fusil. [...]

A chemical analysis of the bones of ancient Nubians shows that they were regularly consuming tetracycline, most likely in their beer. The finding is the strongest evidence yet that the art of making antibiotics, which officially dates to the discovery of penicillin in 1928, was common practice nearly 2,000 years ago. The study finds that it's likely this prehistoric population was using empirical evidence to develop therapeutic agents. [...]

Russian authorities say a mini-submarine plumbing the depths of Lake Baikal has found several shiny metal objects that could be evidence of the legendary Czarist gold lost nearly a century ago during the country's civil war. Explorers discovered the metal objects - described as resembling gold bullion - 400 meters below Lake Baikal's surface Monday.  Attempts so far, however, to pick up the objects with a mechanical arm have failed. Explorers have long been hunting for the treasure, some 1,600 tons of gold allegedly carried by the White Army of Admiral Alexander Kolchak as it fled the advancing Red Army during the 1918-1921 civil war. The admiral, portrayed in a 2008 Russian film of the same name, led the pro-Czarist White Army against the Bolsheviks after the October revolution of 1917. One version of the legendary disappearance has Admiral Kolchak's troops freezing to death in temperatures of of minus-60 degrees Celsius in the winter of 1919-1920 as they fled across the lake with the treasure.  Under that story line, the imperial gold sank to the bottom of the vast lake, which contains a full 20 percent of the world's fresh water, when the Spring thaw finally arrived. [...]

Two NASA Earth scientists have traded in their air-conditioned offices for the sweltering fields of central Turkey. Toiling nine or more hours per day, seven days a week, they walk up to 10 miles a day searching ancient Turkey archaeological grounds for bone fragments, pottery and tombs. But they aren’t using shovels, picks, and brushes to do the job.  Instead, scientists Compton Tucker from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. and Joe Nigro, who works at Goddard through Science Systems and Application Inc., are combining NASA satellite data and ground penetrating radar (GPR) technology to map and protect areas of archaeological interest for an excavation project, located at the famed spot where Alexander the Great cut fabled King Midas’ Gordian knot. In the past, NASA radar has been used on satellites and spacecrafts to detect ice deposits and to explore deep canyons on the moons surface.  “The radar assists in excavation by helping archaeologists identify areas where there are features under the ground, but GPR is also used as a non-invasive technique so that the site doesn’t have to be excavated,” said Joe Nigro, a geographic information systems specialist and archaeologist by training. [...]

'Myrtis' has attracted thousands of people across Greece  to see her, has appealed to the world leaders to end the spread of disease and now she earns herself a place amongst historic artefacts in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. All this, and her name isn't actually Myrtis. It was the name that was given to her by scientists who uncovered her remains, as well as over 150 other skeletons, from an archaeological dig of a 'plague grave' at Kerameikos Cemetery dating back between 426-430BC. Myrtis' resurrection some 2,500 years after her death from Typhoid - a plague which wiped out a third of the Athenian state including Pericles during the Peloponnesian War - has proved useful to researchers who took samples from her teeth to understand more about the microbe which led to the deaths of so many. Other interesting facial reconstructions include that of King Tutankhamun, the Egyptian boy king. The reconstruction of Myrtis came about as her skull was discovered intact, and complete with her jaw and teeth (a mixture of both adult and milk teeth). Orthodontics professor Manolis Papagrigorakis led the project to team to rebuild the face of Myrtis, using techniques involving markers or little nails that show the thickness of the tissue, as well as by considering the origin, the sex, the living conditions and the age of her skull. [...]

From Greek and Roman shipwrecks to 20th-century warships; from ancient streets with intact buildings and mosaics to am­phorae and ingots, the Mediter­ranean is a subaqueous treasure trove. So BP’s plans to drill exploratory oil wells off Libya has raised serious concerns among archaeologists, historians and heritage preservation organisations. The global energy giant says that it will begin the $900m project to drill five exploratory wells in the Gulf of Sirte “before the end of this year” despite the fact that the cause of the blowout of its Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico has yet to be determined. The Libyan wells will be 200 metres deeper than the Macondo. “An oil spill off the coast of Libya would be a complete disaster,” said Claude Sintes, the director of the subaquatic team of the French archaeological mission to Libya and director of the Museum of Ancient Arles, France. According to Sintes, there are two archaeologically rich areas along the Libyan coast—Cyrenaica and Tripoli­tania. [...]

The site is being considered to be one of the best in Western Europe. The importance of a new archaeological dig at Fuente Nueva 3 and Barranco León, in Orce, Granada, is becoming clear. In the first two days of the new dig, remains of elephants, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and deer have been found, and evidence that these animals were eaten by humans. The news was given by the Project Director, Robert Sala. He described the finds at Orce as ‘the richest and the best in Western Europe’ as the site could show human existence at a particular time. He said such human evidence was greater at Orce than at Sima del Elefante, at Atapuerca, Burgos, and that made the site more important, provided the expected human fossils are found, dating from 1.3 million years ago. [...]

Archaeologists have discovered a 4,500 year old settlement, on the Ausable River, near the shore of Lake Huron in Canada. The find rewrites the history of the Canadian province of Ontario, proving that people were living a sedentary lifestyle at that time, even though they lacked agriculture and pottery. Among the discoveries is a 4,500 year old house – the oldest ever found in the province. “It’s semi-subterranean – it’s dug partially down into the ground,” said Professor Chris Ellis of the University of Western Ontario. He led the team that made the find. “It’s as old as the pyramids really.” The team released a picture of the house, which can be seen at the top of this article. After the house was abandoned it was hit by flood waters. Garbage was piled on top of it – something that helped the archaeologists reconstruct what the structure looked like. “Because we have the garbage lining the bottom of it we get an idea of the shape of it,” said Professor Ellis. “Also we have the stains left by the posts (that) supported the roof.” Those posts “are fairly large – you’ve got 18-20 centimetre across logs being used to do this.” [...]

Une équipe du Laboratoire Archéologie Médiévale Méditerranéenne (CNRS/Université de Provence) part du 4 au 18 septembre 2010 étudier les vestiges de la basilique paléochrétienne d'Ereruyk. La basilique d'Ereruyk est une construction en ruines mais assez bien conservée, qui possédait trois nefs, quatre chambres angulaires et trois portiques. Dressée sur une haute plateforme à six gradins, la basilique est flanquée au sud d'un espace à fonction probablement mémorial ou funéraire, d'une ampleur sans équivalent dans l'Arménie paléochrétienne. [...]