2012 in archaeology

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The year 2012 in archaeology involved some significant events.

Explorations

• January - Discovery of a first-century farmhouse on the building site of the new stadium in the south of Marseille. ^[1]

Excavations

• June 6 - Excavators from Museum of London Archaeology announce that they have uncovered the remains of the Elizabethan Curtain Theatre in Shoreditch. ^{[2] [3]}
• August 24 - Philippa Langley in association with the Richard III Society, and Leicester City Council, engage University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), and announce that they have joined forces to begin a search for the site of Greyfriars, Leicester, burial place of King Richard III of England. ^{[4] [5]} On September 5 the excavators announce that they have identified the church. ^{[6] [7]} and on September 12 it is announced that a skeleton discovered during the search could have been that of Richard III, ^[8] a supposition confirmed in 2013. ^[9]
• October - Remains of substantial Mesolithic buildings are identified in Britain at Echline in Scotland, ^[10] Lunt Meadows at Sefton, Merseyside ^[11] and from new investigations at Starr Carr in North Yorkshire. ^[12]
• December - Archaeologists complete excavation of a 900-seat Athenaeum from the time of the Emperor Hadrian in Rome discovered during work on a Metro line at Piazza Venezia. ^[13]
• Excavation of working-class back-to-back houses from the Industrial Revolution period at Chapel Street in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. ^[14]
• Excavations at Holt Castle in Wales begin.

Finds

• January
  • The use of maize in Peru as early as 4700 BCE is confirmed. ^[15]
  • Evidence for early Mayan tobacco use is published. ^[16]
  • Discovery that the Vikings grew barley in Greenland. ^[17]
• February 17 - Alabaster colossus of pharaoh Amenhotep III is discovered. ^[18]
• March - Discovery of an inscribed doorjamb at Karnak giving the hitherto unknown titulary of pharaoh Senakhtenre Ahmose. ^[19]
• March - A 7th century grave near Cambridge in England provides an early example of the transition from pagan Anglo-Saxon to Christian burial practices. ^[20]
• March 30 - In Georgia, archeologists report unearthing jars containing what they believe to be the world's oldest honey. ^[21]
• May - The oldest Mayan astronomical calendar discovered so far, from the 9th century, is reported from Xultun. ^[22]
• May 9 - Archaeologists announce discovery on The Burren in Ireland of evidence of settlement from 6000 BCE. ^[23]
• May 19 - The National Trust for Scotland announce that the first cursing stone to be found in the country, dated to circa 800, has been discovered on Canna. ^[24]
• May 22 - The Bedale Hoard, a hoard of forty-eight silver and gold items dating from the late 9th to early 10th century AD is discovered in a field near Bedale, North Yorkshire by metal detectorists. ^[25]
• June 25 - In the Channel Island of Jersey, the discovery of the Grouville Hoard of an estimated 30,000 – 50,000 Roman and Celtic coins by metal detectorists is announced. ^[26]
• July
  • Discovery of 15th century underwear at Lengberg Castle in Austria is confirmed. ^{[27] [28]}
  • The wreck of the polar expedition ship Terra Nova is discovered off Greenland by the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor. ^{[29] [30]}
• September - A beeswax filling is discovered in the cracked tooth of a Neolithic man in Slovenia. ^[31]
• October - In Jersey, the Trinity Hoard of Bronze Age tools and weapons is discovered. ^[32]
• November - 2,400-year-old golden treasure near the Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari, Bulgaria. ^[33]
• December
  • Discovery near Canterbury, England, of a 1st-century Iron Age bronze helmet containing a bag of cremated human remains is announced. ^{[34] [35]}
  • The site of the mediaeval burgh of the town of Cromarty in Scotland, dating to at least the 12th century, is identified by local archaeologists after storms erode sections of the shoreline. ^[36]
• Undated
  • Devunigutta Temple in India first reported. ^[37]
  • Discovery of a rock inscription confirming the existence of Iry-Hor, the earliest ruler of Egypt known by name. ^[38]
  • Cypriot pottery vessels excavated at Yehud in the land of Canaan (modern-day Israel) subsequently discovered to contain the earliest surviving evidence of opium for use as a narcotic. ^[39]

Events

• February - Completion of whole genome sequencing on Ötzi (d. c.3255 BCE) identifies his paternal DNA with Sardinia. ^[40]
• July - Mausoleums and a mosque in Timbuktu (Mali) are deliberately attacked by rebels, a war crime for which Ahmad al-Mahdi in 2016 pleads guilty before the International Criminal Court. ^[41]
• August - The Krak des Chevaliers is shelled by the Syrian Army. ^[42]
• November - Study from the Kathu Archaeological Complex in South Africa suggests that hominids, possibly Homo heidelbergensis , may have developed the technology of hafted stone-tipped spears about 500,000 years ago. ^{[43] [44]}

Deaths

• July 19: Brian Dobson, British archaeologist notable for work on Hadrian's Wall and the Roman Army (b. 1931) ^[45]
• July 29: James Mellaart, British archaeologist. (b. 1925) ^[46]

See also

• List of years in archaeology

References

1. "Marseille : Une ferme du Ier siècle au pied du Vélodrome". 2013-02-28.
2. "Remains of Shakespeare's Curtain Theatre discovered in Shoreditch" (Press release). Museum of London Archaeology. 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2012-07-12.
3. Kennedy, Maev (2012-06-05). "Shakespeare's Curtain theatre unearthed in east London". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 2012-07-12.
4. "Historic search for King Richard III begins in Leicester". University of Leicester. 2012-08-24. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
5. "Hunt for Richard III's remains under car park". ABC News (Australia). 2012-08-27. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
6. "Researchers find strong evidence for medieval church in Leicester where monarch was buried". University of Leicester. 2012-08-31. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
7. "Search for Richard III confirms that remains are the long-lost Church of the Grey Friars". University of Leicester. 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
8. "Richard III dig: 'Strong evidence' bones are lost king". BBC News . 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
9. "Richard III dig: DNA confirms bones are king". BBC News. 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
10. "Scottish dig unearths '10,000-year-old home' at Echline". BBC News. 2012-10-18. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
11. "Significant archaeological discovery confirms Environment Agency habitat restoration work". Environment Agency. 2012-11-22. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
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16. Zagorevski, Dmitri V.; Loughmiller-Newman, Jennifer A. (January 2012). "The detection of nicotine in a Late Mayan period flask by gas chromatography and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry methods". Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry. 26 (4): 403–411. Bibcode:2012RCMS...26..403Z. doi:10.1002/rcm.5339. PMID   22279016.
17. Hildebrandt, Sybille (2012-02-03). "Vikings grew barley in Greenland". ScienceNordic. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
18. "Armenian archeologist finds colossus of pharaoh Amenhotep III". News.am. 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2012-06-25.
19. Sébastien Biston-Moulin: Le roi Sénakht-en-Rê Ahmès de la XVIIe dynastie, ENiM 5, 2012, p. 61-71, available online.
20. "Anglo-Saxon Christian grave find near Cambridge 'extremely rare'". BBC News. 2012-02-16. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
21. Lomsadze, Giorgi (2012-03-30). "Report: Georgia Unearths the World's Oldest Honey". Eurasianet.org. Retrieved 2012-06-25.
22. "Maya art and calendar at Xultun stun archaeologists". BBC News. 2012-05-10. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
23. Hamilton, Andrew (2012-05-09). "6,000-year-old settlement poses tsunami mystery". Irish Examiner . Cork. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
24. "'Cursing stone' found on Isle of Canna". BBC News. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
25. "Viking Hoard revealed in all its beauty". Northern Echo. 12 December 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
26. "Roman and Celtic coin hoard worth up to £10m found in Jersey". BBC News. 2012-06-25. Retrieved 2012-06-25.
27. Basckin, Deborah (2012-07-30). "Underwear dating back to the 15th Century found in Austrian castle". BBC News. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
28. "Medieval lingerie from Lengberg Castle, East-Tyrol". Universität Innsbruck. 2012-07-23. Archived from the original on 2016-02-06. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
29. "Polar Expedition Vessel S.S. Terra Nova Discovered". 2012-08-13. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
30. Rincon, Paul (2012-08-16). "Scott's wrecked ship Terra Nova found off Greenland". BBC News. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
31. Bernardini, Federico; et al. (2012-09-19). "Beeswax as Dental Filling on a Neolithic Human Tooth". PLOS ONE . 7 (9): e44904. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...744904B. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044904 . PMC   3446997 . PMID   23028670.
32. "News, Weather & Information for the Channel Islands - Bronze Age axe heads discovered". channelonline.tv. Archived from the original on 2012-11-29. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
33. "Thracian Gold Treasure Discovered in Bulgaria". National Geographic . Washington, D.C. 2012-11-11. Archived from the original on November 13, 2012. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
34. "Iron Age bronze helmet found on Canterbury farmland". BBC News. 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
35. "A Late Iron Age helmet found near Canterbury". Canterbury Archaeological Trust. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-12-11. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
36. "Medieval Cromarty". Ross and Cromarty Heritage. Retrieved 2025-01-01.
37. Greaves, Laxshmi Rose (2019). "Devunigutta: A Recently Discovered 6th Century Temple in Telangana". Art of South Asia.
38. P. Tallet, D. Laisnay: Iry-Hor et Narmer au Sud-Sinaï (Ouadi 'Ameyra), un complément à la chronologie des expéditios minière égyptiene, in: BIFAO 112 (2012), 381-395, available online
39. Berg, Raffi (2022-09-20). "Earliest evidence of opium use found in burial site in Israel". BBC News. Retrieved 2022-09-20.
40. Palmer, Jason (2012-02-28). "Oetzi the Iceman's nuclear genome gives new insights". BBC News. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
41. "Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi: The vandal of Timbuktu". BBC News. 2016-09-27. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
42. Fisk, Robert (2012-08-05). "Syria's ancient treasures pulverised" . The Independent . London. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
43. Wilkins, J.; et al. (2012-11-16). "Evidence for early hafted hunting technology". Science . 338 (6109): 942–946. Bibcode:2012Sci...338..942W. doi:10.1126/science.1227608. PMID   23161998. S2CID   206544031.
44. Morin, Monte (2012-11-16). "Stone-tipped spear may have much earlier origin". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on 18 November 2012.
45. "Lives Remembered: Brian Dobson". The Independent. 3 August 2012. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
46. "James Mellaart". Telegraph.co.uk. 2012-08-03. Retrieved 16 May 2017.