During the three programmes, the national team from Department of Archaeology (DoA) and Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) received practical training on restoration activities and archaeological surveys.

UNESCO: Series of UNESCO events highlight potential and challenges of Lumbini��s development | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

The conservation team led by Italian conservator Costantino Meucci together with a national team from the Department of Archaeology and the Lumbini Development Trust restored a section of the historical brick structure inside the Mayadevi Temple.

UNESCO: OFFICE IN KATHMANDU

The representatives of Culture Department and Directorate of Archaeology, Government of Sindh, and Heritage Foundation accompanied the Director for an overview on deteriorating condition of certain shrines.

UNESCO: World Heritage Site at Makli

But the rumours had sparked an internet protest campaign to block any rituals "within the walls of the pyramid on November 11, 2011, " Atef Abu Zahab, the head of the Department of Pharaonic Archaeology, told AFP news agency.

BBC: Egypt closes Great Pyramid amid 11/11/11 rumours

Senerath Dissanayake, head of Sri Lanka's archaeology department, said it could prove very difficult to secure the return of such an item to Sri Lanka because legislation might not be adequate to support such a move.

BBC: UK garden step 'is ancient Sri Lankan moonstone' artefact

The Archaeological Department of the Civil Administration (ADCA) - the Israeli body in charge of archaeology in Israeli-administered parts of the West Bank - points to the fact it has unearthed thousands of remains from all periods of settlement, not only Jewish.

BBC: Middle East

Ms Cresswell, from Oxford University's archaeology department, spent the summer of 2012 sketching the excavations from a footpath.

BBC: Didcot dig: A glimpse of 9,000 years of village life

The university archaeology department head, Prof Martin Bell, said the Severn Estuary was exceptional in its evidence of the plants used by Mesolithic people, thousands of years before farming began.

BBC: Footprint