1950 in archaeology
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Below are notable events in archaeology that occurred in 1950.
Explorations
- Spring: Explorations at Timna in Yemen by Wendell Phillips of the American Foundation for the Study of Man (continues in 1951).
Excavations
- Excavations at Stonehenge in the south of England by R. J. C. Atkinson, Stuart Piggott and J. F. S. Stone.
- Excavations at Wharram Percy in the north of England by Maurice Beresford begin.
- Excavations at Beitin, West Bank.
- Excavations at Gordion in Turkey by the University of Pennsylvania Museum under Rodney S. Young begin.
Finds
- March 1 - A hoard of Roman coins is discovered at Hordley Grange, Shropshire, England.
- May 8 - A bog body known as "Tollund Man" is discovered in Denmark.[1]
- The Upchurch Hoard is discovered in Upchurch, Kent, England.
- A third premolar is discovered in materials sent back to Sweden by Otto Zdansky from his excavations of the Peking Man site at Zhoukoudian, China in 1921 and 1923.
- Balfarg, a prehistoric site in Fife, Scotland, is discovered through air photography.[2]
- Three Roman mosaic pavements are found at Harpham in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
- Stabiae (buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius) is rediscovered.
- The Garima Gospels at Abba Garima Monastery in Ethiopia first become known to Western scholars.
Events
- January 1 - Commencement date (epoch) of the Before Present time scale.[3]
Publications
- T. C. Lethbridge - Herdsmen and Hermits: Celtic Seafarers in the Northern Seas.[4]
- V. E. Nash-Williams - The Early Christian Monuments of Wales.[5]
Births
- January 25 - Phil Harding, English field archaeologist
- Wafaa El Saddik, Egyptian Egyptologist
Deaths
- January 27 - Herbert Eustis Winlock, American Egyptologist who worked for the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (b. 1884)[6]