1949 in archaeology
Encyclopedia
The year 1949 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
- Excavation work recommences at the Peking ManPeking ManPeking Man , Homo erectus pekinensis, is an example of Homo erectus. A group of fossil specimens was discovered in 1923-27 during excavations at Zhoukoudian near Beijing , China...
Site in ZhoukoudianZhoukoudianZhoukoudian or Choukoutien is a cave system in Beijing, China. It has yielded many archaeological discoveries, including one of the first specimens of Homo erectus, dubbed Peking Man, and a fine assemblage of bones of the gigantic hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris...
, ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. - Alberto Ruz LhuillierAlberto Ruz LhuillierAlberto Ruz Lhuillier was a Mexican archaeologist. He specialized in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican archaeology and is well-known for leading the National Institute of Anthropology and History excavations at the Maya site of Palenque, where he found the tomb of the Maya ruler, Pakal...
begins excavations of the Temple of the Inscriptions, PalenquePalenquePalenque was a Maya city state in southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century. The Palenque ruins date back to 100 BC to its fall around 800 AD...
. - Seton LloydSeton LloydSeton Howard Frederick Lloyd, CBE , was an English archaeologist. He was President of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, Director of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara , Professor of Western Asiatic Archaeology in the Institute of Archaeology, University of London...
begins excavations at SakçagözüSakçagözüSakçagözü is a village in the Nurdağı of Gaziantep, Turkey. There are Hitite ruins in the village. Population was 3900 in 1999.The "Coba Tumulus" was first discovered in 1883 by Karl Humann and Felix von Luschan...
. - Grahame Clark begins excavations at Star CarrStar CarrStar Carr is a Mesolithic archaeological site in North Yorkshire, England. It is around five miles south of Scarborough.It is generally regarded as the most important and informative Mesolithic site in Great Britain...
, North YorkshireNorth YorkshireNorth Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
(continues to 1951).
Finds
- Radiocarbon datingRadiocarbon datingRadiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
technique discovered by Willard LibbyWillard LibbyWillard Frank Libby was an American physical chemist noted for his role in the 1949 development of radiocarbon dating, a process which revolutionized archaeology....
and his colleagues in 1949 during his tenure as a professor at the University of ChicagoUniversity of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. - New excavations at Peking ManPeking ManPeking Man , Homo erectus pekinensis, is an example of Homo erectus. A group of fossil specimens was discovered in 1923-27 during excavations at Zhoukoudian near Beijing , China...
Site in ZhoukoudianZhoukoudianZhoukoudian or Choukoutien is a cave system in Beijing, China. It has yielded many archaeological discoveries, including one of the first specimens of Homo erectus, dubbed Peking Man, and a fine assemblage of bones of the gigantic hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris...
, ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
unearth 5 teeth and fragments of thigh and shin bone. - First new discoveries of Nimrud ivoriesNimrud ivoriesThe Nimrud ivories are carved ivory plaques and figures dating from the 9th to the 7th centuries BC that were excavated from the Assyrian city of Nimrud during the 19th and 20th centuries. Many of the ivories were taken to the United Kingdom and were deposited in the British Museum...
by British School of Archaeology in Iraq led by Max MallowanMax MallowanSir Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan, CBE was a prominent British archaeologist, specialising in ancient Middle Eastern history, and the second husband of Dame Agatha Christie.-Life and work:...
.
Publications
- 'C. W. CeramC. W. CeramC. W. Ceram was the pseudonym of German journalist and author Kurt Wilhelm Marek, known for his popular works about archaeology. He chose to write under a pseudonym to distance himself from his earlier work as a propagandist for the Third Reich.Ceram was born in Berlin. During World War II, he...
' - Götter, Gräber und Gelehrte (Gods, Graves and Scholars: the story of archaeology). - T. D. KendrickT. D. KendrickSir Thomas Downing Kendrick KCB was a British archaeologist and art historian.Kendrick was born in Handsworth, a suburb of Birmingham, England, and educated at Charterhouse School and Oriel College, Oxford for a year before World War I, during which he was wounded, and rose to the rank of...
- Late Saxon and Viking Art.
Miscellaneous
- University of New MexicoUniversity of New MexicoThe University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
transfers lands to the National Park ServiceNational Park ServiceThe National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
and expands Chaco Canyon National Monument, with the proviso that the university may continue scientific research.