LE GRAND PARIS EXPRESS, LIGNE 15 SUD : ARCHÉOLOGIE EN GARE DE VITRY CENTRE

La fouille du Parc du Coteau à Vitry-sur-Seine est située en bordure de la RD 605, héritière de la voie romaine qui reliait Paris à Sens. La première construction est un édifice ostentatoire élevé au cours du Haut-Empire. À la fin du IIIe siècle ou au début du siècle suivant, un espace funéraire enclos de fossés est établi en périphérie de cet édifice, ce qui oriente l’interprétation au bénéfice d’un mausolée. La nécropole, organisée en petits groupes de tombes, est fréquentée jusqu’à la fin du haut Moyen Âge, probablement jusqu’au début du XIe siècle. Abandonnée dans un premier temps, la zone est réoccupée aux XIIe-XIIIe siècles par des carrières d’extraction de limon sableux, probablement à destination des tuileries installées de l’autre côté de la voie et dont la mémoire est conservée dans la toponymie. Certaines salles des carrières sont ensuite transformées en caves et ont conservé cette fonction jusqu’à nos jours.

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Watch Richard III The King in the Car Park: Telegraph Now Showing

When a skeleton was found under a council car park in Leicester in September 2012, the news broke around the world. Could these be the remains, lost for 500 years, of our most infamous King, Richard III?

The discovery of the body, and the battery of scientific tests conducted to establish its identity, were carried out in complete secrecy. This film – made by the only team allowed to follow the scientists – tells every twist and turn of the story. 

Richard III: The King in the Car Park is one of several shows available to watch for free as part of our Telegraph Now Showing series. Until the end of January, enjoy watching a range of quality dramas and documentaries including The Hour, Joanna Lumley's Jewel in the Nile and Miracle of the Hudson Plane Crash.

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An Archaeological Study of the Bayeux Tapestry by Trevor Rowley

An Archaeological Study of the Bayeux Tapestry is the latest book by Trevor Rowley.

“An Archaeological Study of the Bayeux Tapestry provides a unique re-examination

of this famous piece of work through the historical geography and archaeology of

the tapestry. Trevor Rowley is the first author to have analysed the tapestry through

the landscapes, buildings and structures shown, such as towns and castles, while

comparing them to the landscapes, buildings, ruins and earthworks which can be

seen today. By comparing illustrated extracts from the tapestry to historical and

contemporary illustrations, maps and reconstructions Rowley is able to provide the

reader with a unique visual setting against which they are able to place the events

on the tapestry.”

Find out more about this book here…

FOUILLES ARCHÉOLOGIQUES AU PIED DE LA TOUR SAINT-NICOLAS À LA ROCHELLE : PREMIERS RÉSULTATS

Si la première mention de La Rochelle apparaît dans une charte de l’abbaye Saint-Cyprien de Poitiers (998-1000), la ville ne se développe véritablement qu’à partir du XIIe siècle. La première enceinte de ville, probablement fondée dans les années 1160-70, permet d’asseoir le statut de cette nouvelle cité portuaire qui s’émancipe progressivement des pouvoirs locaux, notamment au début du XIIIesiècle en englobant deux nouveaux quartiers - Saint-Jean du Perrot et Saint-Nicolas.

CONTEXTE HISTORIQUE

Le quartier du Gabut, situé entre le rivage et le quartier Saint-Nicolas, est partiellement intégré à la ville à la fin du XIVe siècle, suite à la construction d’une nouvelle enceinte reliant la tour Saint-Nicolas à la porte du même nom. Ce secteur de la ville se développe ensuite progressivement. Des bâtiments très allongés (corderies, magasins pour l’artillerie) sont en effet représentés sur les plans de la période moderne et perdurent jusqu’au démantèlement de l’enceinte, à la fin du XIXe siècle.

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Pembroke Castle study uncovers possible Henry VII birthplace

Researchers believe they might have uncovered the location of Henry VII's birthplace at Pembroke Castle.

Aerial photographs from 2013 gave glimpses of what lay beneath the surface, with parch marks revealing possible buildings.

A geophysical survey has now confirmed the outline of a late-medieval building in the outer ward, where the king could have been born.

Neil Ludlow, consultant archaeologist, said it shone new light on the castle.

Much of the interior of the castle, which dates from the 11th Century, was destroyed after the Middle Ages.

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Black Death burial pit found at site of medieval abbey in Lincolnshire

Carbon dating shows skeletons are from mid-14th century, while DNA tests of teeth find presence of plague bacterium

The presence of such a burial site suggests the local community was overwhelmed by the number who died. Photograph: University of Sheffield/PA

A mass burial pit of victims of the Black Death dating back to the 14th century has been discovered near Immingham in Lincolnshire.

Archaeologists from the University of Sheffield were searching the site of Thornton Abbey, once one of the country’s biggest medieval abbeys, for evidence of a post-medieval building when they came across the grave containing 48 skeletons, 27 of them children.

Carbon dating shows the remains are from the middle of the 14th century, when the Black Death, which was most probably bubonic plague, killed an estimated 75 million to 200 million people across Europe and Asia.

Teeth samples were sent to Canada where DNA was successfully extracted and tested positive for Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for the plague, which is documented to have reached Lincolnshire in the spring of 1349.

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Thornton Abbey Black Death plague pit excavated

Dr Hugh Willmott said the mass burial was "completely unexpected"

A Black Death burial pit containing 48 skeletons, including the remains of 27 children, has been found at the site of a 14th Century monastery hospital.

The bodies were excavated at Thornton Abbey in North Lincolnshire.

Between 1347 and 1351 the "Great Pestilence" swept westward across Europe killing millions of people. It later became known as the Black Death.

It arrived on Britain's shores in 1348 and is believed to have wiped out up to 60% of the population at the time.

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Did Shakespeare write Henry V to suit London theatre's odd shape?

The newly excavated Curtain theatre in Shoreditch is believed to be where Henry V was first performed

An archaeologist works on the exposed remains of Shakespeare’s Curtain theatre. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

The battle scenes of Shakespeare’s Henry V may have been written to suit the long, narrow stage of the Curtain, one of the earliest purpose-built theatres in London.

The foundations of the theatre in Shoreditch have been excavated, revealing that it was a rectangular building with a stage about 14 metres long and five metres deep – a different shape from the “wooden Os” of Shakespeare’s more famous theatres on the South Bank, the Globe and the Rose.

Archaeologists have discovered traces of a tunnel structure, accessed by doors on either end of the stage, which would have allowed actors to exit from one side and come on again from the other without being seen by the audience.

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'Cursed' Medieval Well Found in England

The well was once believed to wash away sins; then it became the site of a curse.

A Medieval well that was once believed to wash away sins, while healing eye and skin diseases has been recovered in England. Legend has it that the well was also cursed and records indicate a strange death occurred there.

St. Anne's Well was found on the lands of a private farm on the border between the townships of Rainhill and Sutton St Helens, near Liverpool, UK.

According to Historic England Heritage, which commissioned the excavation, "the well had become completely filled with earth due to ploughing."

"When we first got to the well we found that there was very little indication of it on the surface, but after excavation it was found to be in reasonable condition," Jamie Quartermaine, an archaeologist who supervised the dig, told Discovery News.


The well was built of local sandstone blocks and consisted of a shallow square basin with two steps leading down into the bottom.

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UNE FERME MÉDIÉVALE EN VALLÉE DE LA SEINE, À LA VILLENEUVE-AU-CHÂTELOT (AUBE)

Avant la construction par GRTgaz d'une canalisation de transport de gaz reliant la Méditerranée à la mer du Nord et passant notamment par la Champagne, l'Inrap a réalisé en juin-juillet 2014 une fouille sur 1 469 m2 à la sortie sud de La Villeneuve-au-Châtelot (Aube). L’opération a permis d’étudier des structures en creux antiques, ainsi que la partie orientale d’une ferme entourée de fossés datée du Moyen Âge.

UNE OCCUPATION DU HAUT-EMPIRE TRÈS PERTURBÉE

L’occupation antique consiste en 124 faits anthropiques associés aux années 30-35 à 65-70 apr. J.-C. La majorité sont des fosses, trous de poteau et tronçons de fossé, mais on trouve aussi un puits, un silo, et des ornières. La plupart se concentrent dans la partie ouest d’une emprise déjà très étroite (10 m au plus large) : il est très probable que la quasi-absence de faits antiques dans la moitié est soit due à une destruction par le creusement des fossés successifs ceignant l’occupation médiévale ultérieure. L’organisation spatiale de l’occupation antique nous échappe ; aucun plan de bâtiment n’a été identifié. Le mobilier recueilli oriente vers une activité agro-pastorale. Cette interprétation est confirmée par les données carpologiques, qui indiquent une polyculture des céréales d’hiver et d’été.

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Archaeology: Fragment of 13th C mural showing St Peter found at Plovdiv’s Great Basilica site

Archaeologists working at the site of the Great Basilica in Plovdiv, the largest early Christian church found on the Balkans, have uncovered a fragment of a mediaeval mural believed to depict St Peter.

The fragment is estimated to date to the 13th to 14th centuries.

It was found in the hitherto unexamined northern nave, not far from the city’s Roman Catholic church close to the intersection of Maria Louisa and Tsar Boris III boulevards.

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Archaeologists accidentally discover dozens of ancient shipwrecks at the bottom of the Black Sea

The Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project had intended to find out how quickly water levels rose in the Black Sea after the last Ice Age, but the team ended up discovering a whole lot more than they had bargained for, Quartzreports. While examining the seabeds, the scientists found dozens and dozens of previously undiscovered shipwrecks — 41 in all.

"The wrecks are a complete bonus, but a fascinating discovery, found during the course of our extensive geophysical surveys," the project's principal investigator, Jon Adams, said in a statement.

Many of the shipwrecks were in spectacular condition due to the low oxygen levels that exist nearly 500 feet below the surface. "Certainly no one has achieved models of this completeness on shipwrecks at these depths," Adams said.

Many of the ships date back to the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. The researchers are using photographs to build 3D models of their finds and hope tolearn more about "the maritime interconnectivity of Black Sea coastal communities and manifest ways of life and seafaring that stretch back into prehistory." Jeva Lange

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Unusual Medieval Graves Found In Poland

Ten monumental tombs discovered in Sasiny (Podlaskie), initially believed by archaeologists to contain Neolithic burials, were found to be less that 1,000 years old, and made by Christians.

The cemetery in Sasiny is located in the northeastern Poland. In the eleventh through to the thirteenth centuries, the area regularly changed hands between the Piast princes and the Rus princes.

"All members of the local community were buried in the study graveyard - both poor and rich, including the elite. Funeral rites were common to all. Each of the deceased was placed in a large burial structure, the edges of which was marked by big boulders," explained Dr. Michał Dzik from the Institute of Archaeology, University of Rzeszów, who heads the excavations in Sasiny.

The graves examined by archaeologists have almost rectangular outlines. The space surrounded by boulders, some of which weigh over half a ton, was filled with several layers of unworked stone, which covered the deceased, who was placed in a wooden coffin or covered with a shroud. Structures of this type have extensive size - on average 5 by 3.5 m.

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Beneath This Medieval German Town Lie Over 25 Miles of Forgotten Tunnels

O the surface, Oppenheim looks like your typical German town resting along the banks of the Rhine River. But there's more to Oppenheim than beer halls and a Gothic-style cathedral from the Middle Ages. Beneath its narrow cobblestone streets lies something deeper—an entire labyrinth of tunnels and cellars.

“The town is practically honeycombed with cavities,” Wilfried Hilpke, a tour guide with Oppenheim’s tourism office, tells Smithsonian.com.

Hilpke should know. For the past ten years, he’s spent much of his time leading hour-long hardhat tours of Oppenheim’s elaborate tunnel system, taking visitors through a journey that covers just a fraction of the 25 miles of known tunnels residing beneath the surface. (It’s believed that there could be more than 124 miles of tunnels underneath the town, which is located 30 miles southwest of Frankfurt. However, many sections remain uncharted; they are thought to lead to private cellars beneath residents’ homes.)

Not only are the Kellerlabyrinth tunnels long in distance, but their history is equally deep. According to Hilpke, some of the oldest tunnels date back to 700 A.D. The tunnels got their start as food and wine storage cellars, and workers carved out the bulk of them using pickaxes and shovels during the 1600s, when residents were in need of extra storage space and channels to transport goods like wine. The tunnels took on a secondary purpose when the city's inhabitants used them to hide from Spanish troops during the Thirty Years' War. (They also used them to store Katharinenkirche cathedral’s stained glass windows to protect them during that war's bombardments.)

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Mary Rose shipwreck skulls go online in 3D

For the first time, skulls and other artefacts from the 1545 wreck of Henry VIII's warship the Mary Rose are being exhibited online as 3D reconstructions.

Researchers from Swansea University unveiled the scans to coincide with theBritish Science Festival, taking place in the Welsh city this week.

Some of the virtual objects are public while others are for research purposes.

The idea is to see how much can be learned about the lives of the ship's crew, just from their digitised bones.

Richard Johnston, a materials engineer at Swansea, said the project would test the scientific value of digital archaeology - and the world's burgeoning collection of cyber-artefacts.

"Lots of museums are digitising collections, and a lot of the drive behind that is creating a digital copy of something," Dr Johnston told journalists at a press briefing in London.

"We're going to challenge the research community to see if they can actually do osteological analysis.

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American student finds 12th century Irish brooch on a Galway Beach

McKenna McFadden, an Irish American film and television major at New York University, is in Dublin for the summer with an NYU program. She was walking on the shore of Oney Island in Connemara in the west of Ireland this week when something sitting in the sand caught her eye.

Little did she think it would be a rare artifact from the 12th century.

The NYU Dublin group was being led on a tour of the island by the Connemara-based archaeologist Michael Gibbons.

As McFadden told IrishCentral, “I had been looking at some rabbit burrows with my friend while on a tour of the island lead by archaeologist Michael Gibbons. When stepping back from the burrows, I looked down and saw the back of the brooch and picked it up.

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History of Danish royal castle 'to be rewritten'

Denmark's biggest royal castle, Vordingborg, is set for an updated history after an archaeological dig shed new light on a key figure in its past.

The castle, located on the southern coast of Zealand facing across the Baltic Sea towards Germany, was originally built in the 12th century by King Valdemar the Great. 

 

Valdemar used it as a base for raids on Germany and, later under Valdemar's son Valdemar II the Victorious, Estonia.

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A ghoulish tour of medieval punishments

Is there anything quite as chillingly middle-English as a head swinging mournfully from a set of gallows, silhouetted over some rugged and desolate moorland?

The Oxfordshire town of Thame has announced it is considering bringing back stocks as a tourist attraction, but which other settlements have kept their instruments of medieval correction?

Stocks date back to at least the time of the Black Death in the 14th Century. Labourers were banned from leaving their homes to find better wages elsewhere and those who broke the law were put in stocks.

Every town or village was required by law to have a set. But being put in the stocks was a fairly minor punishment. Many places had whipping posts, pillories and even gallows.

Here's a ghoulish tour of England's harsh past.

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THE DAY OF ARCHAEOLOGY 2016 WILL BE HELD ON FRIDAY 29 JULY!

We are looking for people working, studying or volunteering in the archaeological world to participate with us in a “Day of Archaeology” in July 2016. The resulting Day of Archaeology website will demonstrate the wide variety of work our profession undertakes day-to-day across the globe, and help to raise public awareness of the relevance and importance of archaeology to the modern world. We want anyone with a personal, professional or voluntary interest in archaeology to get involved, and help show the world why archaeology is vital to protect the past and inform our futures.

Explore posts from previous years here...

EMAS Field Trip to Wells Cathedral and Bishop's Palace

Field Trip to Wells Cathedral and Bishop's Palace

Guide: David Beard MA, FSA

Saturday, 9th July 2016

There are still a few places left on this field trip.

You can find further information here...

Ausgrabung am Alten Kirchplatz mit Überraschungen

Archäologen des Landschaftsverbandes Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) haben in Gütersloh das bislang älteste Haus der Stadt aus dem 12. Jahrhundert entdeckt. Nicht nur die Mauer des Kirchhofes war im Keller als Wand verbaut. Auch die Schieferplatten des ersten Daches, Reste der Glasfenster und Bruchstücke der mittelalterlichen Tonpfeifen der Bewohner tauchten unter den Werkzeugen der Fachleute in einem Haus am Kirchplatz 11 in Gütersloh auf. Noch tiefer im Boden waren die Pfostenspuren eines Baus aus dem 12. Jahrhundert verborgen.

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Stop Destruction Of British Archaeology

Click here to sign this important petition

'Eye-watering' scale of Black Death's impact on England revealed

Thousands of volunteers have helped to uncover the full and devastating extent of the population collapse caused by the epidemic

Praying for relief from the bubonic plague or Black Death Hulton hh3748.jpg Photograph: Hulton Getty

Scraps of broken pottery from test pits dug by thousands of members of the public have revealed the devastating impact of the Black Death in England, not just in the years 1346 to 1351 when the epidemic ripped Europe apart, but for decades or even centuries afterwards.

The quantity of sherds of everyday domestic pottery - the most common of archaeological finds - is a good indicator of the human population because of its widespread daily use, and the ease with which it can be broken and thrown away. By digging standard-sized test pits, then counting and comparing the broken pottery by number and weight from different date levels, a pattern emerges of humans living on a particular site.

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A kitchen story, a quarry, bones and gaming pieces: These medieval finds have been found at a Suffolk school

A school site in an 11th century road system in Suffolk has been excavated for medieval remains ahead of the creation of a new classroom and kitchen. The first cooking there, though, might actually have happened during the 14th century, according to the most unusual of the discoveries made during the dig: a small flint and mortar building which is thought to have been a kitchen or cold store.

Any fires during cooking wouldn’t have affected the main house, with the kitchen building set some distance from the street frontage and houses. Above ground, it would have been constructed of timber with a tiled floor and roof.

Bury St Edmunds’s Abbot set up the roads at the core of the old town, where a large medieval market thrived. Pilgrims to the abbey made the area an important and wealthy regional centre.

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‘Lost’ songs from Middle Ages brought back to life

An ancient song repertory will be heard for the first time in 1,000 years this week after being ‘reconstructed’ by a Cambridge researcher and a world-class performer of medieval music. 

Detail from the Cambridge Songs manuscript leaf that was stolen from and then recovered by Cambridge University Library [Credit: Cambridge University] 

‘Songs of Consolation’, to be performed at Pembroke College Chapel, Cambridge on April 23, is reconstructed from neumes (symbols representing musical notation in the Middle Ages) and draws heavily on an 11th century manuscript leaf that was stolen from Cambridge and presumed lost for 142 years. 

Saturday’s performance features music set to the poetic portions of Roman philosopher Boethius’ magnum opus The Consolation of Philosophy. One of the most widely-read and important works of the Middle Ages, it was written during Boethius’ sixth century imprisonment, before his execution for treason. Such was its importance, it was translated by many major figures, including King Alfred the Great, Chaucer and Elizabeth I.

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11 reasons William Shakespeare was the original Shoreditch hipster

An archaeological dig is expected to find Shoreditch is the home of Shakespeare, putting Stratford-Upon-Avon and the Globe in the shade.

The Museum of London Archaeology is leading a project to uncover and explore the remains of the Curtain Theatre, the 16th and 17th century venue where Shakespeare is known to have first staged Romeo and Juliet.Heather Knight, the senior archaeologist leading the dig on behalf of MOLA, said: “People often go to Stratford-upon-Avon to take in Shakespeare’s birthplace and his grave.

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Archaeologists discover skeletons of cows and pony, domestic oven and industrial complex in medieval Scottish town

From wells to a pony, a huge dig next to the 19th century Town House in the Scottish town of Irvine has produced some amazing archaeological finds dating back to the 13th century. Claire Williamson, who is leading the project for Rathmell Archaeology, takes a look around the site

"This is a view of the Irvine Town House site before the archaeological work begins, but after the demolition of the structures that used to stand here.

This ground, destined for development, lies in the core of the medieval burgh of Irvine. As such, it offered an unrivalled opportunity for archaeologists to explore the origins of the town and the people who lived, worked and built our community over the centuries."

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Shakespeare's 'original classroom' revealed

The young Shakespeare would have had his school lessons and seen his first plays in this room 

The original classroom where William Shakespeare is believed to have studied and seen his first plays opens to the public for the first time this weekend.

The classroom is owned by the King Edward VI school, the direct successor to the grammar  school in Stratford-upon-Avon attended by Shakespeare from about 1571.

It will be open to visitors after a £1.8m lottery-funded renovation.

Among the discoveries was a hidden pre-Reformation wall painting.

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ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVER 10TH CENTURY CHURCH, COINS TESTIFYING ABOUT 1242 TATAR (MONGOL) INVASION OF MEDIEVAL DRASTAR IN BULGARIA’S SILISTRA

A 10th century church with a necropolis has been discovered by the Ruse archaeologists during their participation in the rescue digs in the nearby Danube city of Silistra, the modern-day heir to Durostorum (in the Antiquity) and Drastar (in the Middle Ages). 

Photo: Ruse Regional Museum of History

A church from the 10th century, dozens of medieval graves, and coins testifying to the Tatar (Mongol) invasion of theSecond Bulgarian Empire (1185-1396 AD) in 1242 AD have been discovered during rescue excavations of the medieval city of Drastar, known as Durostorum in the Antiquity, in today’s Danube city of Silistra in Northeast Bulgaria.

These findings have just been presented to the public by archaeologists Nikola Rusev and Varbin Varbanov from theRuse Regional Museum of History; the discoveries were made in the late summer and fall of 2015 when their team participated in the rescue excavations in the city of Silistra after a local water supply rehabilitation project exposed a number of archaeological structures from different time periods.

The rescue digs in Silistra, which was a major regional center in the Antiquity and Middle Ages, continued for several months as part of the rehabilitation of the city’s water supply and sewerage system. They also led to the discovery of the outer fortress wall of the Ancient Roman city of Durostorum (as the city was known in the Antiquity period).

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Rare chess piece found in back yard of museum

THE smallest medieval Arabic chess piece to be discovered in the country has been unearthed in an archaeological dig at Wallingford Museum. 

At first curators at the museum in High Street thought the artefact was a tiny carving of a cat. 

But a closer examination revealed it was a chess piece made from the tip of an antler, and further pieces could be found when a second dig is carried out at the visitor attraction in July. 

Curator Judy Dewey said: "We have joked that we will pick up the other 31 pieces and the board but of course that's very unlikely."

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 The Aedicule at the heart of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is in need of repairs 

Credit: GALI TIBBONGALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Jerusalem holy site where Jesus is thought have been crucified, is as often the scene of Christian rivalry as brotherly love. 

Catholic, Armenian and Greek Orthodox priests jostle for space under its great dome, sing during each other's prayers and occasionally engage in sectarian fist fights. 

But the three communities have set aside their differences for a task all can agree is of critical importance: restoring the crumbling structure of Jesus's tomb. 

At the heart of the church is the Aedicule, a towering shrine built on what is said to be the spot where Jesus was buried before rising from the dead three days later.

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Des statues découvertes lors d’un diagnostic entrent au Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

Les statues ont été découvertes en 2013, lors d’un diagnostic prescrit par le service régional de l’Archéologie (DRAC Nord Pas-de-Calais) et réalisé à l’intérieur de l’enceinte urbaine du XV^e siècle. De tous les diagnostics réalisés dans la commune, il s’agit du premier à révéler une occupation médiévale.

Les tranchées ont livré les restes de deux ou trois bâtiments aux sols de terre crue et aux murs sur solins de grès ou sablières basses en bois.

Ils correspondent à la dernière phase d’occupation médiévale datée de la fin du XIV^e ou du XV^e siècle à l’issue de laquelle le terrain est occupé par un jardin jusqu’au début du XIX^e siècle. En dessous, la stratigraphie montre des sols en argile sur environ un mètre d’épaisseur avec des traces de fours et de foyers dont la chronologie semble débuter à la fin du XIII^e siècle et couvrir tout le XIV^e siècle. À partir du XVI^e siècle, sans doute à cause du déclin économique de la ville, les maisons sont remplacées par un jardin.

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Black Death and self-punishment - remains of medieval whip found at Rufford Abbey

Archaeologists have discovered pieces of what is believed to be a monastic copper scourge in the grounds of Rufford Abbey – one of only four in the country.
Scourges, whips or cat-o-nine-tails – were woven copper-alloy wires braided together used by people in the Middle Ages to chastise themselves. They perhaps saw it being a way of cleansing the soul or self-punishment for society’s sins, and were popular after the devastation of the Black Death.
The Black Death plague ravaged the country from 1348, and put an end to prosperity at Rufford and the Abbey went into decline. It is possible that the Cistercian monks used the scourges in this period in an attempt to keep the Black Death at bay, or for the mortification of the human body.

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Fouilles avant restauration : archéologie au château de Clisson

Un mur d’enceinte primitif et une galerie voûtée : tels sont quelques-uns des vestiges médiévaux et modernes mis au jour par les archéologues de l’Inrap au niveau de la terrasse nord-est du château de Clisson, un site classé monument historique à la confluence de la Sèvre et de la Moine. Ces découvertes apportent de nouvelles connaissances sur l’histoire du château et l’évolution de son front défensif nord. L’opération, prescrite par l’État (Drac des Pays de la Loire), s’inscrit dans le cadre de travaux de restauration menés par le Département de Loire-Atlantique. Propriétaire du site, le Département apporte une attention particulière à l’étude archéologique et à la restauration de son patrimoine dont il est responsable. Ces recherches répondent à des enjeux de conservation, de restauration, d'étude scientifique et de restitution des résultats auprès du public.

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Wythenshawe Hall fire: Manchester Tudor stately home's roof destroyed

Emergency service vehicles gather after an overnight fire caused extensive damage to the roof and first floor of the 16th century Tudor Hall of Wythenshawe Hall, near Manchester. Photo: REUTERS/Phil Noble

 Dozens of firefighters have been battling to save a historic Tudor mansion after a blaze destroyed its roof and first floor.

Wythenshawe Hall, a timber-framed former stately home turned museum and art gallery, has been badly damaged in the fire early on Tuesday.

The fire broke out in the roof of the 16th Cenbtury building, near Manchester, at just after 3.30am. No one was inside or hurt, but firefighters said they were "doing everything we can" to save the property. 

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