1996 in archaeology

The year 1996 in archaeology involved some significant events.

Explorations

• Preliminary survey of Buckton Castle in the north west of England.
• A Bronze Age site, al-Moghraqa, was discovered by Moain Sadeq in Gaza Governorate, Palestine. ^[1]
• December: the Byzantine Church of Jabalia in Palestine is discovered during repairs to the Salah al-Din Road. ^[2]

Excavations

• July – excavations at Blakhiya Byzantine cemetery in Palestine take place under the auspices of the Department of Antiquities of Gaza and the École Biblique. ^[3]
• Large-scale, wide-scope horizontal excavations begin at Daepyeong, a large Mumun Pottery Period settlement in Korea (continued until early 2000).
• Excavations near Bogazköy by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft begin (continued until 1999).
• Excavation of the Portuguese nau Nossa Senhora dos Mártires (1605–06) at the mouth of the Tagus begins (continued until 2001).
• First excavation of medieval drain at Paisley Abbey in Scotland.

Publications

• Matthew Johnson - An Archaeology of Capitalism (Blackwell).
• Denise Schmandt-Besserat - How Writing Came About (University of Texas Press).
• Rita P. Wright (ed.) - Gender and Archaeology (University of Pennsylvania Press).
• First issue of e-journal Internet Archaeology .

Finds

• July: Mass grave of victims of the Battle of Towton (1461) in England.
• July 28: Kennewick Man in the United States.
• August 4: Seaton Carew Wreck in England.
• November 21: Pirate flagship Queen Anne's Revenge (run aground 1718) in North Carolina.
• Herxheim archaeological site, a Neolithic Linear Pottery culture ritual center and mass grave at Herxheim in southwest Germany.
• The Keltenfürst (Celtic prince) of Glauberg in Germany, a life-size sandstone statue of a warrior dating from the 5th century BCE. ^[4]
• Ekron Royal Dedicatory Inscription in Israel.
• Lod Mosaic in Israel.
• Croatian Apoxyomenos off the Croatian islet of Vele Orjule.
• Hermes of Messene in Messene, Greece.
• Ōfune Site, one of the Jōmon Archaeological Sites in Hokkaidō, Japan.
• "Great Dover Street woman" from Roman Britain in London. ^[5]
• Polychrome wall paintings (dated to 1090) at church of St Mary the Virgin in the deserted village of Houghton on the Hill, Norfolk, England. ^[6]

Events

• Yale University Bonampak Documentation Project begins at Maya site of Bonampak.
• November 2: Sendai City Tomizawa Site Museum opens in Japan.

Deaths

• January 17- William Lamplough, British archaeologist (b. 1914).
• March 18 - Jacquetta Hawkes, British archaeologist (b. 1910). ^[7]
• September 23 - Stuart Piggott, British archaeologist (b. 1910). ^[8]
• November 14 - Martyn Jope, British archaeologist and biochemist (b. 1915).
• December 9 - Mary Leakey, British archaeologist and anthropologist (b. 1913).

References

1. Steel, Louise; Clarke, Joanne; Sadeq, Moain; Manley, Bill; McCarthy, Andrew; Munro, R. Neil (2004), "Gaza Research Project. Report on the 1999 and 2000 Seasons at al-Moghraqa", Levant, 36: 37, doi:10.1179/lev.2004.36.1.37
2. Humbert, Jean-Baptiste; Abu Hassuneh, Yasser; Hassuneh, Aymân; Abu Muhammar, Mahmud (2000). "Mukheitem à Jabaliyah, un site byzantin" [Mukheitem at Jabaliyah, a Byzantine site]. Gaza Méditerranéenne: Histoire et archéologie en Palestine (in French). Éditions Errance. p. 121.
3. Morhange, Christophe; Taha, Mohamed Hamdan; Humbert, Jean-Baptiste; Marriner, Nick (2005), "Human settlement and coastal change in Gaza since the Bronze Age" , Méditerranée: Revue géographique des pays méditerranéens, 104: 75–78, doi: 10.4000/mediterranee.2252
4. Bosinski, F.-M.; Herrmann, F.-R. (2000). "Zu den frühkeltischen Statuen vom Glauberg". Ber. Komm. Arch. Landesforsch. Hessen. 5, 1998/99: 41–48.
5. "Archaeologists May Have Found Woman Gladiator's Grave". The New York Times. 2000-09-13. Retrieved 2021-09-02.
6. "The Wall Paintings". St Mary's Church. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
7. "Obituary: Jacquetta Hawkes". The Independent. 20 March 1996. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
8. "Obituary: Professor Stuart Piggott". The Independent. 27 September 1996. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 30 May 2017.