1968 in archaeology

The year 1968 in archaeology involved some significant events.

List of years in archaeology (table)
… 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 …
In science 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

Explorations

• Survey of Anshan in Iran.

Excavations

• Anne Stine Ingstad and Helge Ingstad complete excavations of Viking site at L'Anse aux Meadows.
• Prof. Richard J. C. Atkinson undertakes work at Silbury, broadcast on BBC Television (continues to 1970).
• Colin Renfrew begins excavations at Sitagroi, Greece (continues to 1970).

Publications

• Sally R. and Lewis R. Binford (ed.) - New Perspectives in Archeology.
• David L. Clarke - Analytical Archaeology.

Finds

• Archaeological prospection of Buvuma Island directed by the Tervuren Museum finds early use of pottery.
• An early medieval burial excavated at Suontaka Vesitorninmäki, Tyrväntö, in southern Finland includes the Suontaka sword among ambiguous features of gender expression; research published in 2021 suggests the individual buried had Klinefelter syndrome.
• The lower jaw part of a presumably female Homo heidelbergensis pre-Neanderthal (azykantrop) is found in the acheulean age layer in Azykh cave, in Azerbaijan.
• The Inscription of Sargon II at Tang-i Var.
• San José y Las Animas (shipwreck), which sank off Florida in 1733, located.

Miscellaneous

• June 26 - Pope Paul VI claims that bones discovered in the vicinity of Saint Peter's tomb in 1942 are relics of Peter.
• Project to move temples of Abu Simbel to prevent their inundation by the Aswan High Dam successfully completed.
• The Egyptian Department of Antiquities and the Getty Conservation Institute in Santa Monica, California start a conservation project for tomb of Queen Nefertari.
• Analysis of the environment of Shanidar Cave in Kurdistan suggests that the adult male Neanderthal "Shanidar 4" may have been buried with floral tributes.

Deaths

• December 18 - Dorothy Garrod, English Palaeolithic archaeologist of the Near East (born 1892).