1997 in archaeology
Encyclopedia
The year 1997 in archaeology
involved some significant events.
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
involved some significant events.
Excavations
- The exhumation of Yagan's headExhumation of Yagan's headThe exhumation of Yagan's head was the result of a geophysical survey and archaeological dig at a grave site in the Everton Cemetery, Liverpool in 1997.-Background:...
. - Major salvage excavation of NeolithicNeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
-era Ashkelon begun by Yosef GarfinkelYosef GarfinkelYosef Garfinkel is a professor of Prehistoric Archaeology and of Archaeology of the Biblical Period at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.-Biography:...
of the Hebrew University of JerusalemHebrew University of JerusalemThe Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
(continues to 1998). - Excavation at Jericho by Lorenzo Nigro and Nicolo Marchetti.
Publications
- Barry CunliffeBarry CunliffeSir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe, CBE, known professionally as Barry Cunliffe is a former Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford, a position held from 1972 to 2007...
- The Ancient Celts (Oxford University Press) - Sarah Milledge NelsonSarah Milledge NelsonSarah Milledge Nelson is an American archaeologist and a professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Denver, United States....
(ed.) - The Archaeology of Northeast China: Beyond the Great Wall (London: Routledge). - Sarah Milledge Nelson - Gender in Archaeology: Analyzing Power and Prestige (Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press).
- Bernard SergentBernard SergentBernard Sergent is a French ancient historian and comparative mythologist. He is researcher of the CNRS and president of the Société de mythologie française.- Publications :...
- Genèse de l'Inde (Paris: Payot).
Finds
- MegalosaurusMegalosaurusMegalosaurus is a genus of large meat-eating theropod dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic period of Europe...
and CetiosaurusCetiosaurusCetiosaurus meaning 'whale lizard', from the Greek cetus/κητος meaning 'sea monster' and saurus/σαυρος meaning 'lizard', was a sauropod dinosaur from the Mid to Late Jurassic Period in what are now Europe and Africa. It is estimated to have been about long and to have weighed roughly...
footprints are identified at Ardley, Oxfordshire, by Christopher Jackson.
Miscellaneous
- July 10: In London, scientists report their DNADNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
analysis findings from a Neandertal skeleton which support the out of Africa theory of human evolutionHuman evolutionHuman evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...
placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. - July 19: Emergency designation of the wreck of the HanoverHanover (ship)The Hanover was a two-masted brigantine owned and operated by the Falmouth Packet Company. The Packet trade operated between 1688 and 1852. Hanover was long and was built in 1757....
under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973Protection of Wrecks Act 1973The Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which provides protection for designated shipwrecks. Section 1 of the act provides for wrecks to be designated because of historical, archaeological or artistic value. Section 2 provides for designation of...
. - Bryn Euryn, an archaeological site near Colwyn BayColwyn Bay- Demography :Prior to local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974 Colwyn Bay was a municipal borough with a population of c.25,000, but in 1974 this designation disappeared leaving five separate parishes, known as communities in Wales, of which the one bearing the name Colwyn Bay encompassed...
, is identified as the probable base of Cynlas Goch, a 6th-century WelshWelsh peopleThe Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
king.
Deaths
- 6 November: Anne Stine IngstadAnne Stine IngstadDr. Anne Stine Ingstad was a Norwegian archaeologist who, along with her husband Dr. Helge Ingstad, discovered the remains of a Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1960.-Biography:Anne Stine Moe was born and raised in Lillehammer, in...
, NorwegianNorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
archaeologist (b. 19181918 in archaeologyThe year 1918 in archaeology involved some significant events.-Excavations:* Ballshi inscription, a 9th-century epigraph testifying to the christianization of Bulgaria-Births:...
).