A French archaeological mission has concluded its excavation project in Umm Al Qaiwain for the current season with the completion of test trenches in eight new archaeological sites. The work has been undertaken in collaboration with the Department of Tourism and Antiquities of Umm Al Qaiwain.

The mission’s excavations resulted in the discovery of a number of artefacts.

Alia Al Ghafli, Director-General of the Department of Tourism and Antiquities of Umm Al Qaiwain, said that the new excavations are an excellent addition to Umm Al Qaiwain’s archaeological map. Samples have been sent to the laboratory of the Sorbonne University in France for Carbon-14 analysis, to accurately date these sites.

Rania Hussain Qanouma, Director of the Antiquities Section at the Department, explained that the sites date back to the Neolithic period. Stone items as well as fragments of pottery from the Ubaid civilisation of Mesopotamia (Iraq) are among the finds.

Congolese physician Denis Mukwege and Yezidi activist Nadia Murad were set to accept the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony on Monday.

The two laureates were praised by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for "their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict."

Mukwege, 63, spent much of his adult life helping victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, treating thousands of patients and advocating on their behalf. He has criticized armed groups, political leaders in Congo and the international community for failing to act on mass rapes.

Murad, 25, is a member of Iraq's Yezidi religious minority who survived sexual slavery at the hands of the Islamic State extremist group.

She has spoken out against the abuses perpetuated by Islamic State group members against herself and thousands of other Yezidi girls and women.

The peace prize is one of the awards endowed by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.

In accordance with Nobel's will, the peace prize is handed out in the Norwegian capital of Oslo.

Later Monday, the recipients of the Nobel prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry and economics are to receive their awards in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.

The Swedish Academy announced in May it would not award the Nobel Prize in literature this year after the body was embroiled in a sex scandal and alleged breaches of conflict-of-interest rules that resulted in a deep rift between its members.

Each prize is worth 9 million Swedish kronor (1 million dollars).

The award ceremonies are traditionally held on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.

Four multimedia works are vying for Britain's most prestigious award for art, the 25,000-pound (32,000-dollar) Turner Prize, the winner of which will be announced late Friday.

The shortlisted works include a human rights collective's documentation of Bedouin in Israel, an exploration of hope and loneliness, an autobiographical work filmed on a phone, and a trilogy of films on violence.

"The artists shortlisted for this year's Turner Prize are tackling some of today's most important issues, from queer identity, human-rights abuses and police brutality to post-colonial migration and the legacy of liberation movements," said Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain and chair of the judges.

"For the first time, all the shortlisted artists work with the moving image and its thrilling to see how wide a range of techniques and styles they use," Farquharson said.

In The Guardian, art critic Adrian Searle called the works by artists Naeem Mohaiemen, Charlotte Prodger and Luke Willis Thompson, and arts collective Forensic Architecture, "the best lineup for years" for the annual prize.

First awarded in 1984, the Turner Prize had until last year recognized an artist under 50, born, living or working in Britain, for "an outstanding exhibition or public presentation of their work" in the previous year.

The organizers said they lifted the age barrier to reflect the view that artists can reach their peak at any age.

The change allowed Tanzanian-born artist and professor of contemporary art Lubaina Himid, now 64, to become the oldest winner of the prize for works questioning the representation of black people in art.

Archaeologists have dug up 24 gold coins and a gold earring, believed to be some 900 years old, at the Caesarea National Park in northern Israel.

The Israel Antiquities Authority announced the discovery on Monday after a bronze pot containing the coins and the ancient piece of jewellery were found hidden between two stones in the side of a well in a neighbourhood dating back to the Abbasid and Fatimid period, spanning the second half of the 8th century to the 11th century.

According to the directors of the excavation, Peter Gendelman and Mohammed Hatar, the coins date back to the end of the 11th century, and "make it possible to link the treasure to the Crusader conquest of the city in the year 1101, one of the most dramatic events in the medieval history of the city."

Most of the inhabitants of Caesarea were thought to have been massacred by the army of Baldwin I (1100–1118), king of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.

"It is reasonable to assume that the treasure’s owner and his family perished in the massacre or were sold into slavery, and therefore were not able to retrieve their gold," Gendelman and Hatar said in joint statement.

Robert Kool, a coin expert at the antiquities authority, said that among the coins were six extremely rare Byzantine imperial gold coins.

The discovery was made in the framework of a more than 150-million-shekel (40-million-dollar) excavation and conservation project.

Earlier excavations have revealed antiquities from the time of King Herod through to the Crusader period.

The German Bundestag has approved allocating a sum of €10 million to co-finance the furnishing of Minya’s Akhenaten Museum, Egyptian Ambassador to Germany Badr Abdel Aati said on Friday.

Abdel Aati said in a statement to MENA that the move is the result of efforts exerted over the past two years by the Egyptian Embassy in Berlin in coordination with Bundestag members and officials from the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities.

Abdel Aati noted that the Egyptian government established the museum in 2010, but that work has been halted since then.

The budget endorsed also included an agreement for additional allocations should furnishing the museum require more money, he added.

The ambassador hailed the move, which he said reflects the strength of Cairo-Berlin relations and the high level they have achieved across various fields.

He also noted that the Bundestag's contribution to furnishing the Akhenaten Museum comes after President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi’s successful visit to Germany on 28-31 October. 

Daraa Antiquities Department on Tuesday confiscated dozens of archaeological pieces in al-Jeeza town in Daraa eastern countryside.

SANA’s reporter said that the Department seized 103 archaeological pieces from one of the houses in al-Jeeza town, 20 km to the east of Daraa City.

The reporter added that the confiscated archaeological pieces include 75 basalt and marble stones, and 28 pottery pieces and all of them date back to the Roman era.

The confiscated archaeological pieces are believed to be stolen from Bosra Archeological Museum when the terrorist organizations were controlling the town.

War-ravaged Daraa province has restored its position on world tourism map and Bosra al-Sham City with its archeological amphitheater and castle restored  their historic splendor and started to receive their visitors again.

Bosra City enjoys a wide fame worldwide due to its deep-rooted history as it dates back to very old historical eras since the Roman reign and Emperor Philip the Arab and first Christian era,  Director of Daraa Tourism Department Yasser al-Sa’adi said.

Bosra is a major archaeological site, containing ruins from Roman, Byzantine, and Muslim times , al-Sa’adi added

During the Roman reign, the city flourished and became a major metropolis at the juncture of several trade routes as it connected Damascus to the Red Sea.

It became an important center for food production and during the reign of Emperor Philip the Arab, Bosra began to mint its own coins.

Throughout the Islamic rule, Bosra would serve as the southernmost outpost of Damascus.

Al-Sa’adi added that the city also witnessed the meeting between Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and Monk Bahira who lived in it at the that time.

He indicated that the return of visitors to the city is an important turning point in the tourism promotion in the province.

The increase in the number of visitors of Bosra al-Sham comes in the framework of shedding light on the historical and archeological importance of the city, and it conveys a message to the world that Syria is the cradle of human civilizations and it will become better than it used to be before the war.

The bodies concerned in Daraa province have set a plan to rehabilitate many archeological sites in the province, on top Bosra al-Sham City due to its historical and archeological significance.

The city has witnessed the first visit by Syrian delegation from Syrian Society for Discovery and Documentation.

Berlin is hosting an international conference on Nazi-looted art 20 years after guidelines were laid down for returning stolen works to their rightful owners.

Some 1,000 experts are expected at the conference, which starts on Monday and lasts until Wednesday, to discuss progress on the so-called Washington Principles from 1998, which set out international obligations towards the victims and their heirs.

US businessman Ronald Lauder, who is president of World Jewish Congress, is expected to attend the conference. Laudner recently accused Germany yet again of dragging its heels in the search for Nazi-looted art.

German-French colonialism expert Benedicte Savoy is also expected to address the conference.

The Washington Principles, agreed in December 1998 at the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets, state that steps should be taken "expeditiously to achieve a just and fair solution" when Nazi-looted art is uncovered.

The Berlin conference is being organized by the German Lost Art Foundation based in the city of Magdeburg and is being funded from the budget of Culture Minister Monika Gruetters.

“Sculpture 1” exhibition, currently held at Qozah Art Gallery in Damascus, comprises 30 artworks by 10 Syrian sculptors of different generations which explore philosophical and existentialist themes using different methods and materials.

The exhibition chronicles the evolution of sculpture art in Syria in an aesthetic and visual dialogue.

Sculptor, Wael Dahhan, has deftly combined ceramic and metal to create female portrait sculptures. The 3 art works depict women in pain, sadness and meditation postures.

In his 3 bronze sculptures, Sculptor Issa Qazah, presented his idea about the building of human from the inside out. The theme was stemmed from the repercussions of war on Syria and its impacts on human and society as a whole.

Other exhibits included works by sculptors Waddah Salama, Ruba Kanj, Mustafa Ali, Kinana al-Kood, Hussein Deeb, Misan Salman and Yamen Yousef.

The Doha International Book Fair will kick off on Thursday with the participation of 427 publishing houses from 30 Arab and foreign countries.

A total of 50 publishing houses from Jordan will take part in the ten-day event that concludes on December 8.

The fair will be held under the patronage of Emir of Qatar His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

With tireless and rapid efforts, the works of maintenance and rehabilitation of al-Buzuriyah Souq (the seeds market) are continued for preserving the aesthetic features of this old Damascene market.

Al-Buzuriyah (the Arabic word for herbs and spices) Souq is a historical one located to the south of the Umayyad Mosque inside the old walled city of Damascus; it is famous for its spices vendors, and the many historical khans located along it, including Khan As’ad Pasha. On its southern end it meets Medhat Pasha Souq.

Being one of the most important markets of Damascus, the process of rehabilitation of its land and infrastructure is important to maintain the aesthetic features of this archaeological market,  give it greater value and to reactivate it.

Archaeologists have discovered an early settlement, bones and a skull of a mammoth containing treasure in the town of Zaraysk, in the Moscow Region, the press service of the regional Ministry of Culture said on Wednesday.

The site was discovered during excavations at the Zaraysk Kremlin State Museum of History, Architecture, Art and Archaeology in 2016, according to the statement. The Zaraysk site is the most ancient human settlement in the Moscow Region. Earthworks here have been conducted for several years with this year’s dig having kicked off in August.

"The skull of a mammoth was found with hidden treasure (flint makings and arms blanks). After that, archeologists discovered an early human settlement. Such a find is a rare thing in this area with the last discovery made in 2005," the press service added.

Researchers found large bones, teeth, tusk, and jaws of a mammoth during this year’s excavation, expedition head of Russian Academy of Sciences Archaeology Institute, Sergei Lev said. He pointed out that archeologists also uncovered a fireplace, full of burnt bones, as well as coal and crimson stains along the entire dig area, which mark the ground level where ancient humans lived.