1937 in archaeology

The year 1937 in archaeology involved some significant events.

Excavations

• Uaxactun project by Carnegie Institution led by Oliver Ricketson ends.
• Excavations at Vergina conducted by University of Thessaloniki.
• Major excavations begin at Avebury by Alexander Keiller (continue until 1939).
• Excavations at Alalakh, Turkey, conducted by Leonard Woolley, begin (continue until 1949, interrupted by World War II).
• Excavations at Nagar, Syria, conducted by Max Mallowan, begin (continue until 1938).
• Chinese excavations at Peking Man Site in Zhoukoudian, begun in 1927 by Davidson Black, and Yinxu, begun in 1928 by Li Chi, come to an end with the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
• Excavations begin at the neolithic site of Hyrax Hill, Kenya, by Mary Leakey (continues until 1938).
• Recording of standing medieval buildings by William A. Pantin and excavations beneath site and stratigraphy of medieval pottery by Rupert Bruce-Mitford on construction site for New Bodleian Library in Oxford, one of the earliest instances of rescue archaeology in England.^[1]

Finds

• Ferriby Boat 1 found by Ted Wright. Wright later found two other boats in 1940 and 1963, the latter of which was later discovered to be the oldest Bronze Age boat in Western Europe.^[2]

Publications

• Dorothy Garrod - The Stone Age of Mount Carmel: excavations at the Wady el-Mughara.
• Stuart Piggott - "The early Bronze Age in Wessex".

Events

• Institute of Archaeology established within the University of London by Mortimer Wheeler.^[3]
• Lion of Amphipolis re-erected in Greece.
• Obelisk of Axum moved from Ethiopia to Rome.

Miscellaneous

• A Civilian Conservation Corps of Navajo stonemasons repairs Chacoan buildings in Chaco Canyon. A previous group built soil conservation devices, planted trees, and improved roads and trails.

Births

• Andrea Carandini, Italian archaeology professor
• June 18 - Bruce Trigger, Canadian archaeologist and McGill University professor (died 2006)^[4]
• July 25 - Colin Renfrew, British archaeologist^[5]

References