The year 1981 in archaeology involved some significant events.

Explorations

* June ** Owen Beattie of the University of Alberta begins the 1845–48 Franklin Expedition Forensic Anthropology Project (FEFAP) on

King William Island King William Island (french: Île du Roi-Guillaume; previously: King William Land; iu, Qikiqtaq, script=Latn) is an island in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, which is part of the Arctic Archipelago. In area it is between and making it the ...

to trace Franklin's lost expedition. ** Start of archaeological survey seeking Beothuk sites on the northeast coast of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

which locates that at Boyd's Cove. * Late ice age tools found in inland Tasmania. * Full photographic survey of the wreck of the '' Breadalbane'' in the Northwest Passage.

Excavations

* September - Excavation of the Trinchera Dolina at the archaeological site of Atapuerca in northern Spain begins. *

Ain Ghazal Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where i ...

is discovered during road construction outside

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

, Jordan. * Excavation of Etruscan (or Greek) shipwreck of BCE off Isola del Giglio, Italy, directed by

Mensun Bound Mensun Bound (born 4 February 1953) is a British maritime archaeologist born in Stanley, Falkland Islands. He is best known as director of exploration for two expeditions to the Weddell Sea which led to the rediscovery of the Endurance,BBC News, ...

, begins.

Publications

David Burgess-Wise David Burgess-Wise is a motoring author, enthusiast, and automobile historian. According to the dustcover of the book "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles" he edited in 1979, David Burgess Wise ith no "-"was born in 1942. A motorin ...

- ''Automobile Archaeology'' (Cambridge, England: Patrick Stephens Ltd). *

Derek Roe Derek Arthur Roe (31 August 1937 – 24 September 2014) was a British archaeologist most famous for his work on the Palaeolithic period. Roe was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex and grew up in Kent. Educated at St Edward's School in Oxford, he u ...

- ''The Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Periods in Britain'' (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul).

Finds

* Ceremonial decorated bronze Celtic

Agris Helmet The Agris Helmet (french: Casque d'Agris) is a ceremonial Celtic helmet from BC that was found in a cave near Agris, Charente, France, in 1981. It is a masterpiece of Celtic art, and would probably have been used for display rather than wo ...

found in a cave near Agris in southwestern France. * Wreck of RMS ''Republic'' (1903) located off

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

by Captain

Martin Bayerle Captain Martin Gerard Bayerle (born April 23, 1951) is an American treasure hunting, treasure hunter and author, best known for finding the 1909 shipwreck of the White Star Liner RMS Republic, RMS ''Republic''. He is also star of the History Chann ...

. * Wreck of located off the south west coast of England. * Undley bracteate found near Lakenheath in eastern England. * Gold bar found in Mexico City, subsequently confirmed as made of material appropriated during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and presumably abandoned by the Spanish at the time of La Noche Triste in 1520.

Awards

Events

* June 12 - Film ''

Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronal ...

'', featuring fictional 1930s

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film '' Raiders of the Lost Ark''. In 1984, a prequel, '' Th ...

, is released. *

Colin Renfrew Andrew Colin Renfrew, Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, (born 25 July 1937) is a British archaeologist, paleolinguist and Conservative peer noted for his work on radiocarbon dating, the prehistory of languages, archaeogenetics, neuroarchaeology, an ...

is elected to the Disney Professorship of Archaeology in the University of Cambridge. * Riace bronzes are put on show in Italy for the first time since their discovery in 1972.

Births

Deaths

References

{{reflist Archaeology Archaeology Archaeology by year