Stop Press

Recueil d’articles de presse sur des sujets liés au patrimoine. Les points de vue exprimés dans ces derniers n’engagent évidemment que leurs auteurs.

31 juillet

• Discovery at Border Cave reinforces the theory that modern man came from southern Africa
  Art Daily
  Poisoned-tipped arrows and jewelry made of ostrich egg beads found in South Africa show modern culture may have emerged about 30,000 years earlier in the area than previously thought, according to two articles published on Monday.

• The ‘End Times’ for Timbuktu?
  The New York Times, Etats-Unis
  The main gate of the Sidi Yahya mosque of Timbuktu will only be opened, according to local belief, when the end of the world comes.

• Silchester Iron Age finds reveal secrets of pre-Roman Britain
  The Guardian, Royaume-Uni
  A single olive stone unearthed at the ancient town of Silchester is among the extraordinary finds that are leading archaeologists to rewrite British history

30 juillet

• Colosseum in Rome is leaning, officials say
  The Guardian, Royaume-Uni
  The ancient Colosseum in Rome is slanting about 40cm lower on the south side than on the north, and authorities are investigating whether it needs urgent repairs.

• German Archaeologists Unearth Tomb of Mayan Prince at Uxul
  Sci-News, Etats-Unis
  A team of archaeologists from the University of Bonn, Germany, has discovered a tomb of a young prince at the ancient Mayan city of Uxul.

• Extraordinary Neo-Hittite Statue Discovered in Turkey
  Sci-News, Etats-Unis
  A large semi-circular column base, ornately decorated on one side, was also discovered. Both pieces are from a monumental gate complex that provided access to the upper citadel of Kunulua, capital of the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Patina (1000-738 BC).

• Anna Somers Cocks, chairman, and four leading trustees of the Venice in Peril Fund resign
  The Art Newspaper, Royaume-Uni
  Charity to return to its restoration roots but rising waters still a threat to city.

29 juillet

• In Egypt, archaeologists reopen tombs to woo tourists
  The Washington Post, Etats-Unis
  Egyptian authorities are opening new tombs in an attempt to woo tourists back to their country, after a slump in the industry since last yeat's revolution.

• US to help in restoration of Balaji ghat in Varanasi
  The Times of India, Inde
  The United States of America will fund for the documentation of Balaji ghat, a historic landmark constructed in 18th century along the Ganga in Varanasi.

28 juillet

• Museums Studying Dealer’s Artifacts
  The New York Times, Etats-Unis
  Federal authorities are asking American museums to scrutinize their collections for items that they have obtained from a veteran Manhattan art dealer now accused of possessing antiquities stolen from India and other countries.

• Museums in the country to be more interactive
  The Times of India, Inde
  In an effort to make Indian museums more interactive and lively, the ministry of culture, government of India, has initiated training programmes for the museum staff at some world renowned centres and museums.

27 juillet

• Flying Lasers Reveal Buried Historical Structures
  Spiegel, Allemagne
  Archaeology is being revolutionized by remote-scanning techniques that use lasers to detect otherwise invisible ground features. The technology digitally extracts vegetation for a clean image of the earth's surface. Archaeologists in Germany have already discovered thousands of new sites

26 juillet

• Outstanding Roman sarcophagus recovered after more than 20 years
  The Art Newspaper, Royaume-Uni
  An ancient Roman alabaster sarcophagus, which was stolen more than 20 years ago from a church south of Rome, was returned to Italy on 18 July.

• Genetic Data and Fossil Evidence Tell Differing Tales of Human Origins
  The New York Times, Etats-Unis
  After decades of digging, paleoanthropologists looking for fossilized human bones have established a reasonably clear picture: Modern humans arose in Africa some 200,000 years ago and all archaic species of humans then disappeared, surviving only outside Africa, as did the Neanderthals in Europe.

• 500 year old rum? Archaeologists search for the real Captain Morgan
  Fox News, Etats-Unis
  U.S. archaeologists are continuing their search for real-life buccaneer Captain Henry Morgan’s lost fleet after the discovery of six cannons, a 17th century wooden shipwreck and even a barrel that may very well contain rum.

25 juillet

• Jamaica's 'wickedest city' Port Royal banks on heritage
  BBC, Royaume-Uni
  Today it is a small sleepy fishing village located at the mouth of Kingston Harbour that wants to use its rich heritage to bring in tourists and improve its fortunes.

• No bailout coming for European culture
  The Washington Times, Etats-Unis
  A Rome court that monitors the government budget has warned that new austerity cutbacks in public spending on culture is putting the country’s immense heritage of museums and historic sites in jeopardy.

• Joint EU, UNESCO initiative to safeguard Mediterranean culture
  Daily News Egypt, Égypte
  The European Union delegation to Egypt announced Tuesday that it was providing EUR 17 million to a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization initiative partnered with Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan to implement national projects aimed at preserving “intangible” cultural heritage.

• Lung infection ailed 'Maiden' Inca mummy before sacrifice
  NBC, Etats-Unis
  The so-called Maiden mummy of a 15-year-old Incan girl who was sacrificed 500 years ago is giving up some secrets, revealing the teenager suffered from a bacterial lung infection at the time of her death, scientists report Wednesday.

• Archaeologists uncover Palaeolithic ceramic art
  Phys Org, Royaume-Uni
  The finds consist of 36 fragments, most of them apparently the broken-off remnants of modelled animals, and come from a site called Vela Spila on the Adriatic coast. Archaeologists believe that they were the products of an artistic culture which sprang up in the region about 17,500 years ago. Their ceramic art flourished for about 2,500 years, but then disappeared.

• Ancient life-size lion statues baffle scientists
  NBC, Etats-Unis
  Two sculptures of life-size lions, each weighing about 5 tons in antiquity, have been discovered in what is now Turkey, with archaeologists perplexed over what the granite cats were used for.

24 juillet

• Mexican archaeologists discover three 1,000 year old tombs near Monte Albán in Oaxaca
  Art Daily
  A funerary complex more than 1,100 years old and composed of three funerary chambers was discovered in the prehistoric site of Aztompa, Oaxaca. This discovery is highly important since it was registered inside a building that was designed exclusively to harbor a series of tombs which are placed vertically, one on top of another, and the main difference between the prior and the recently discovered tombs is that they weren’t found underground.

• Creating heritage with a spray can
  NEWS.com.au, Australie
  Policies for tagging and murals are under review to "examine international best practice in commissioning, maintaining, conserving and decommissioning street art".

• Key archaeology images made available online
  The University of York, Royaume-Uni
  An important collection of archaeological images by photographer-turned-excavator Philip Rahtz is now available online through the University of York's digital library service.

23 juillet

• Neandertals Didn't Bite the Volcanic Dust
  The American Association for the Advancement of Science, Etats-Unis
  About 40,000 years ago, a huge volcanic eruption west of what is now Naples, Italy, showered ash over much of central and Eastern Europe. Some researchers have suggested that this super-eruption, combined with a sharp cold spell that hit the Northern Hemisphere at the same time, created a "volcanic winter" that did in the Neandertals.

• Securing nondescript temples, a must to protect bronze icons
  The Hindu, Inde
  In May this year, seven bronze icons were stolen from the 14th century Varadaraja Perumal temple at Kadalangudi in Nagapattinam district.

• Le British Museum contribue à la restitution de près d’un millier d’objets d’art afghans
  Le Journal des Arts, France
  843 œuvres d’art ont été retournées à l’Afghanistan avec le soutien du British Museum. Ces objets de provenance illicite avaient été saisis par les autorités britanniques.

22 juillet

• Russia Bible museum sees the books as national treasures
  Los Angeles Times, Etats-Unis
  At the St. Joseph of Volokolamsk monastery, the new Bible museum is a project dear to the heart of professor Irina Pozdeyeva.

• Gandhara relics: Stolen or not, police and archaeologists can’t agree on one number
  The Express Tribune, Pakistan
  KARACHI: The police and archaeology experts seem to be at loggerheads over the actual number of Gandhara relics seized earlier in the month.

21 juillet

• Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority continues plan to document and protect ruins of old Al Ain villages
  AMEinfo.com, Emirats Arabes Unis
  Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) has completed the first phase of archaeological excavations around the old Al Khrais village in the southern part of Al Jimi oasis in the emirate's heritage heartland of Al Ain.

• Stone commemorating heroic act with Tamil-Brahmi inscription found
  The Hindu, Inde
  Students of Department of Epigraphy and Archaeology of Tamil University here have discovered an important hero stone, a stone commemorating a heroic act, with Tamil-Brahmi (Tamizhi) inscription near Pudukottai. The discovery is considered to be significant in the history of early Tamil epigraphical research.

20 juillet

• "Dramatic" New Maya Temple Found, Covered With Giant Faces
  National Geographic Daily News, Etats-Unis
  Archaeological "gold mine" illuminates connection between king and sun god. Some 1,600 years ago, the Temple of the Night Sun was a blood-red beacon visible for miles and adorned with giant masks of the Maya sun god as a shark, blood drinker, and jaguar.

• Return of cultural artefacts hailed as way to grow economy
  Radio New Zealand, Nouvelle-Zélande
  Overseas museums are being called on to return all Pacific Island artefacts to enable the cultural economies of their countries of origin to grow.

• Boston's Museum Of Fine Arts Urged To Return Looted Artifacts To Nigeria
  The Huffington Post, Etats-Unis
  The National Commission for Museums and Monuments, the governmental body in Nigeria that regulates the nation's museum systems, is demanding the return of 32 artifacts recently acquired by the Museum of Fine Art in Boston.

19 juillet

• An olive stone from 150BC links pre-Roman Britain to today's pizzeria
  The Guardian, Royaume-Uni
  Iron Age Britons were importing olives from the Mediterranean a century before the Romans arrived with their exotic tastes in food, say archaeologists who have discovered a single olive stone from an excavation of an Iron Age well at at Silchester in Hampshire.

• FBI agents find missing Matisse in undercover sting
  CNN, Etats-Unis
  Undercover FBI agents in Florida found what investigators believe is a stolen Henri Matisse painting that had been missing for nearly a decade, officials said Wednesday.

18 juillet

• Mona Lisa’s Bones Possibly Beneath Italian Church
  ABC news, Etats-Unis
  The bones of Mona Lisa, the woman who posed for Leonardo da Vinci’s famous masterpiece in the 1500s, may be located beneath an altar in an Italian church, according to researchers.

• Great Wall of China Longer Than Previously Reported
  ABC news, Etats-Unis
  A five-year archaeological survey done by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) found that the total length of the Great Wall was 13,170 miles long and reached across 15 provinces.

• El Zotz masks yield insights into Maya beliefs
  Phys Org, Royaume-Uni
  A team of archaeologists led by Brown University's Stephen Houston has uncovered a pyramid, part of the Maya archaeological site at El Zotz, Guatemala. The ornately decorated structure is topped by a temple covered in a series of masks depicting different phases of the sun, as well as deeply modeled and vibrantly painted stucco throughout.

• Mystery of Lost Roman City Solved: Ancients Greened the Desert?
  National Geographic Daily Etats-Unis
  Today it's a mirage-like expanse of monumental ruins. But under the Roman Empire, Palmyra was a trading metropolis, according to historical and archaeological evidence.

• Neanderthals had knowledge of plants' healing qualities: study
  Phys Org, Royaume-Uni
  An international team of researchers, led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the University of York, has provided the first molecular evidence that Neanderthals not only ate a range of cooked plant foods, but also understood its nutritional and medicinal qualities.

• Ancient village holds lifestyle clues for archaeologists
  ABC, Australia
  Australian archaeologists are embarking on a study of one of the earliest ever records of a key transformation in human history.

17 juillet

• Largest Ancient Maya Dam Found in Guatemala
  Sci-News, Etats-Unis
  Archaeologists led by the University of Cincinnati have revealed new details about sustainable water and land management among the ancient Maya, including the discovery of the largest ancient dam in Central America.

• Three Kingdoms' tomb holding warrior discovered
  NBC, Etats-Unis
  Grave dates back about 1,800 years, when China was breaking apart.

• Ancient Hellenistic Harbor Found in Israel
  Discovery News, Etats-Unis
  The remains of a magnificent ancient harbor have emerged from a dig in Akko (Acre), a city at the northern tip of Haifa Bay in Israel.

• Restoration of Nur Jahan’s Tomb to begin soon
  The Express Tribune, Pakistan
  Lahore: The Archaeology Department plans to begin an extensive restoration project in a month or two for the tomb of 17th Century Mughal queen consort Nur Jahan, said officials.

16 juillet

• A Bone Here, a Bead There: On the Trail of Human Origins
  The New York Times, Etats-Unis
  New discoveries made in Inverness have fuelled speculation among experts that it was an important area of prehistoric iron production.

15 juillet

• New 'Iron Age' discoveries made in Inverness
  BBC, Royaume-Uni
  New discoveries made in Inverness have fuelled speculation among experts that it was an important area of prehistoric iron production.

• Trading history
  The Hindu, Inde
  The history of Kongunadu dates back to fifth century B.C. said Poongundran. Kongunadu fell on the trade route of Greeks and Romans who would travel through this region to Madurai, Uraiyur and other places in the south.

14 juillet

• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement returns stolen and looted art and antiquities to Peru
  Art Daily
  Yesterday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement returned 14 stolen and looted cultural paintings and artifacts to the government of Peru at a repatriation ceremony at the Embassy of Peru in Washington, D.C. The items were recovered in five separate investigations by special agents of ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New York; West Virginia; Wilmington, Delaware; and Austin and Houston, Texas.

• Living treasure
  The Economist, Royaume-Uni
  As of this month, the following unlikely mixture of people and agencies found themselves tarred with the same brush: Liverpool City Council, the developers and municipal authorities of Panama, the Islamist rebels of West Africa and the quarrelsome bishops of some ancient Christian churches in the Middle East.
  

13 juillet

• Archaeologists Discover Bulgarian Herculaneum
  Novinite.com, Bulgarie
  A Bulgarian Herculaneum, named Akra, has been discovered by archaeologists on the Akin cape, near the town of Chernomorets on the southern Black Sea coast.

• Ancient palace will be rebuilt
  VietNamNet Bridge, Vietnam
  Japan's Waseda University and the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre have completed work on a scaled down replica of Hue Citadel's Can Chanh Palace.

• DOLE: Cultural heritage tourism to create new jobs
  Philippine Information Agency, Philippines
  The Department of Labor & Employment’s Institute of Labor Studies (DOLE-ILS) recently held a forum on cultural heritage tourism to further promote the tourism sector, attract more tourists and investments and create job opportunities for young Filipinos.

• Authentication Start-Up Fing-Art-Print Promises to Defeat Art Forgers With Microscopic 3D Mapping
  Blouin Art Info
  This technology is a reality according to one of its developers, the engineer and conservationist Dr. Bill Wei of the Netherlands Institute of Cultural Heritage, who spoke at the recent ARCA Conference on the Study of Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection in Amelia, Umbria. Dr. Wei spoke of a new system for “fingerprinting” artworks that he has helped to develop. The system is called Fing-Art-Print, and is a non-contact method for the three-dimensional identification of unique art objects.

12 juillet

• Archaeologist Uncovers Evidence of Hernando de Soto's Expedition
  Fox News, Etats-Unis
  When Spanish Conquistador Hernando de Soto stepped on the shores of Tampa Bay, Florida with visions of gold floating through his head, he had no mapped route, no idea of what lay in front of him and not an inkling that this trip would end in his death.

11 juillet

• Shengavit: Archaeology, Renovations Progressing
  The Armenian Weekly, Etats-Unis
  Shengavit District, Yerevan–Work is progressing on much-needed repairs and maintenance at the Shengavit Historical and Archaeological Culture Preserve in Yerevan. Thanks to support from the Cambridge Yerevan Sister City Association (CYSCA) and members of the U.S. Armenian community, Shengavit’s director, Vladimir Tshagharyan, is implementing critically needed maintenance and repairs at the site. Tshagharyan was appointed Shengavit’s director about two years ago.

• Lost Viking Military Town Unearthed in Germany?
  National Geographic Daily News, Etats-Unis
  A battle-scarred, eighth-century town unearthed in northern Germany may be the earliest Viking settlement in the historical record, archaeologists announced recently.

10 juillet

• Sudan relics at risk from dam floods
  The Art Newspaper, Royaume-Uni
  Appeal to archaeological community as proposals leave three- to six-year window.

• 'Mantle' Site, Ancient 'New York City' Of Canada, Found On Lake Ontario Shore
  The Huffington Post, Etats-Unis
  Today New York City is the Big Apple of the Northeast but new research reveals that 500 years ago, at a time when Europeans were just beginning to visit the New World, a settlement on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in Canada, was the biggest, most complex, cosmopolitan place in the region.

• Egypt’s Culturama Projection at WIPO
  AG-IP News , Jordanie
  The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will host a panoramic projection of the history of Egypt’s cultural heritage at its Geneva headquarters from July 10 to 20, 2012. According to WIPO, five presentations of the panoramic, interactive presentation, which takes the audience on a journey through time from the Pharaonic Period through contemporary times, will be organized daily.

• Gold coins from time of Crusades found in Israeli ruins
  Fox News, Etats-Unis
  Israeli archaeologists have found buried treasure: more than 100 gold dinar coins from the time of the Crusades, bearing the names and legends of local sultans, blessings and more -- and worth as much as $500,000.

9 juillet

• Archaeologist Finds Stonehenge-Like Ruins in Syrian Desert
  Sci-News, Etats-Unis
  Archaeologist Dr Robert Mason of the Royal Ontario Museum has recently announced the discovery of mysterious rock formations near the Syrian monastery Deir Mar Musa.

• X-rays reveal secrets of Roman coins
  The Guardian, Royaume-Uni
  Scientists have used a new x-ray technique to produce spectacular 3D images of Roman coins that were corroded inside pots or blocks of soil.

8 juillet

• How to save a dying language
  The Times of India, Inde
  Google is trying to preserve endangered languages through its recent project. What is India's gameplan to protect 197 of its written and spoken dialects that are disappearing?

• St Kilda Centre described as ‘key case study’
  Stornoway Gazette, Royaume-Uni
  The proposed St Kilda Centre on the Isle of Lewis has been recognised as a “key case study” of global importance after UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee adopted a sustainable tourism strategy aimed at increasing local economic benefits from internationally-significant sites.

• Local experts and Cambridge bio anthropologist unearth more secrets from Pahiyangala
  The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka
  After the endless stream of noisy crowds for weeks, a silence engulfs the area, disturbed only by a bird-call or the soothing rustle of leaves as rainwater from the massive rock outcrop falls on to tree canopies and slides down

• Ship’s Wake Damages Gangway at Museum
  The New York Times, Etats-Unis
  A long-decommissioned submarine faced an unusual adversary early Sunday — the wake from a huge cruise ship that was trying to dock at a nearby Hudson River pier.

7 juillet

• Zooming in on a place of mystery
  China Daily, Chine
  Zhou Bing still feels moved when he recalls entering the long-sealed-off retirement lodge of Emperor Qianlong (1711-99) - Juanqinzhai, the most mysterious and best preserved of Forbidden City structures, which remains off-limits to the public.

• 3500-year-old cemetery discovered in southwestern Iran
  Tehran Times, Iran
  A cemetery dating back to 3500 years ago has been discovered in the Taj Amir region near the city of Yasuj in the southwestern Iranian province of Kohkiluyeh-Boyer Ahmad.

• Police seize Buddhist sculptures worth millions of dollars in Pakistan
  The Washington Post, Etats-Unis
  Pakistani police seized a large number of ancient Buddhist sculptures that smugglers were attempting to spirit out of the country and sell for millions of dollars on the international antiquities market, officials said Saturday.

• World Heritage Committee session wraps up
  Press TV, Iran
  The 36th session of the World Heritage Committee has wrapped up in St. Petersburg, adding 26 new sites to UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

6 juillet

• Timbuktu’s cultural heritage sites are under attack
  The Washington Post, Etats-Unis
  Timbuktu was once a crossroads of the African continent and the Muslim world, a vibrant center of commerce and trade, spirituality and mysticism, knowledge and learning. Since last week, however, the so-called “city of 33 saints” has been reduced to collateral damage in a brutal Islamist sect’s push for power in northern Mali.

• Le Codex Calixtinus, trésor du patrimoine religieux espagnol, retrouvé par la police
  L'Express, France
  Volé l'année dernière à la cathédrale de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle, au nord-ouest de l'Espagne, le Codex Calixtinus, précieux ouvrage daté du XIIe siècle, a été retrouvé par la police.

5 juillet

• Software could reconstruct medieval mosaics
  The Art Newspaper, Royaume-Uni
  Experimental software developed to reassemble Cold War documents may soon shed light on the mysteries surrounding around 5,000 medieval stained-glass fragments from Coventry Cathedral, as well as on the work of John Thornton, one of England’s greatest stained-glass artists.

• Découverte d’une synagogue abritant des mosaïques, datant du IVe et Ve siècle après J.-C. en Israël
  Le Journal des Arts, France
  Une équipe d’archéologues israéliens et américains ont découvert les vestiges d’une synagogue en Galilée (région nord d’Israël). Ils ont également trouvé une mosaïque décorative comportant une des rares représentations de la vengeance de Samson.

3 juillet

• Mali : la menace plane sur les manuscrits de Tombouctou
  Le Monde, France
  Alors que les islamistes d'Ançar Eddine ont détruit sept des seize mausolées de la ville, la communauté internationale s'inquiète pour les manuscrits anciens que recèle Tombouctou.

• Un exemplaire de la première carte de l'Amérique retrouvé à Munich
  Le Monde, France
  Un exemplaire de la première carte portant le nom de l'Amérique et signée par le moine et cartographe allemand Martin Waldseemüller a été retrouvé "par hasard" à la bibliothèque universitaire de Munich.

2 juillet

• Opinion: Timbuktu tomb attack is an attack on our humanity
  CNN, Etats-Unis
  The Old Mostar Bridge, the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, and now the Mausoleums of Timbuktu. Once again, culture is under attack.

mise à jour : 06.08.2012