Below are notable events in
archaeology that occurred in
1939
This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 1
** Third Reich
*** Jews are forbidden to ...
.
Excavations
* Major excavation of
Ostia Antica in Italy begins (continues to 1942).
*
University of Pennsylvania project at
Piedras Negras, Guatemala ends (started 1931).
* Palace of Nestor in
Pylos
Pylos (, ; el, Πύλος), historically also known as Navarino, is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is th ...
by
Carl Blegen (resumed 1952-69).
* Tomb of Psusennes at
Tanis by
Pierre Montet (started 1928).
* Deserted medieval village of
Seacourt near Oxford by
Rupert Bruce-Mitford (June–July 15).
* Medieval settlement at Bere,
North Tawton, England, by
Martyn Jope.
*
Bowl barrow at
Knap Hill,
Wiltshire, England, by C. W. Phillips.
Publications
*
Grahame Clark: ''Archaeology and Society''.
Finds
*May
**
Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo is the site of two early medieval cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near the English town of Woodbridge. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when a previously undisturbed ship burial containing a ...
ship burial unearthed by
Basil Brown and
Edith Pretty in
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
,
England. On July 28 the
Sutton Hoo helmet is excavated.
**
Battle of Thermopylae
The Battle of Thermopylae ( ; grc, Μάχη τῶν Θερμοπυλῶν, label=Greek, ) was fought in 480 BC between the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Xerxes I and an alliance of Greek city-states led by Sparta under Leonidas I. Lasting o ...
site unearthed by
Spyridon Marinatos in Greece.
*August 25: The
Lion-man statue is discovered in the
Hohlenstein-Stadel, a cave in southern Germany.
*
Matthew Stirling
Matthew Williams Stirling (August 28, 1896 – January 23, 1975) was an American ethnologist, archaeologist and later an administrator at several scientific institutions in the field. He is best known for his discoveries relating to the Olmec ...
discovers the bottom half of
Stela C at
Tres Zapotes in
Veracruz, Mexico.
*Wyllys Andrews discovers the
Maya civilization site of
Kulubá in
Yucatán, Mexico.
Miscellaneous
* May 6:
Dorothy Garrod is elected to the
Disney Professorship of Archaeology in the
University of Cambridge, the first woman to hold an
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of Oxford and Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most famous universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collectively, in contrast to other British universities, and more broadly to de ...
chair.
Births
* January 15:
Neil Cossons, English industrial archaeologist and museum director
* July 12:
Peter Addyman
Peter Vincent Addyman, (born 12 July 1939), known as P. V. Addyman, is a British archaeologist, who was Director of the York Archaeological Trust from 1972 to 2002. Addyman obtained a degree in archaeology at Cambridge University, after which h ...
, English archaeologist
* November 6:
Peter J. Reynolds
Peter John Reynolds (6 November 1939 – 26 September 2001) was a British archaeologist known for his research in experimental archaeology and the British Iron Age. His work as the first director of Butser Ancient Farm, a working replica of a ...
, English experimental archaeologist (d.
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
)
* December 10:
Barry Cunliffe
Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe, (born 10 December 1939), known as Barry Cunliffe, is a British archaeologist and academic. He was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2007. Since 2007, he has been an Emeri ...
, English archaeologist
* November 27:
Malcolm Todd, English archaeologist (d.
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
)
Deaths
* March 2:
Howard Carter
Howard Carter (9 May 18742 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the K ...
, English Egyptologist (b.
1874
Events
January–March
* January 1 – New York City annexes The Bronx.
* January 2 – Ignacio María González becomes head of state of the Dominican Republic for the first time.
* January 3 – Third Carlist War &ndas ...
)
References
{{reflist
Archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology by year