The year 1985 in archaeology involved some significant events.

Excavations

* April - Engine of SS ''Xantho'' (sunk 1872) recovered off Western Australia. * June 21 - 1928 Scania truck (sunk 1936) recovered from Fryken in Sweden. * September - British Vickers Wellington IA medium bomber ''N2980'' (crashed 1940) recovered from Loch Ness in Scotland.

Explorations

* Sagalassos (Turkey) surveyed.

Finds

* July 20 - The main

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

site of the Spanish galleon '' Nuestra Señora de Atocha'' (which sank in 1622) is found off the coast of

Key West, Florida Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Isla ...

by treasure hunters who soon begin to raise $400 million in coins and silver. * September 1 - The shipwreck of the RMS ''Titanic'' (1912) in the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

is located by a joint American-French expedition led by Dr Robert Ballard ( WHOI) and Jean-Louis Michel ( Ifremer) using side-scan sonar from RV ''Knorr''. * October 13 - A hoard of coins of the Durotriges tribe is found in the rampart of

Castle Rings, Wiltshire Castle Rings is a univallate hill fort in the parish of Donhead St Mary in Wiltshire in England.Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre 2011. The fort is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, with a list entry identification number of 1005698.Historic En ...

, England, an Iron Age hill fort, by a metal detectorist. * Autumn - Rogozen Treasure: In the village of

Rogozen Rogozen ( bg, Рогозен ) is a village in Northwestern Bulgaria. It is located in Hayredin Municipality, Vratsa Province. Rogozen is famous for its Rogozen treasure. Notabilities Jordan Ganchovski, a now US-based Bulgarian writer, poet, l ...

, Vratsa Province, Bulgaria, tractor driver Ivan Dimitrov discovers 65 silver vessels in his garden. In

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

archaeologists will discover a second hoard consisting of 100 vessels near the spot. Archaeologists date the treasure to the 5th-4th centuries BCE. * Cosquer Cave found on the Mediterranean coast of France by diver Henri Cosquer; surviving

cave painting In archaeology, Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are more than 40,000 ye ...

s include Gravettian hand stencils and Solutrean animal paintings including a

great auk The great auk (''Pinguinus impennis'') is a species of flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus ''Pinguinus''. It is not closely related to the birds now known as penguins, wh ...

, the earliest known depiction of a seabird. * Wrecks of three

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...

ships driven ashore in Autumn 1588, ''La Lavia'', '' La Juliana'', and ''Santa Maria de Vison'', found at Streedagh Strand, north of

Rosses Point The Rosses (officially known by its Irish language name, ''Na Rosa''; in the genitive case ''Na Rosann'') is a geographical and social region in the west of County Donegal, Ireland, with a population of over 7,000 centred on the town of Dungloe, ...

on the west coast of Ireland. * Shipwreck of Greek merchant ship of about 400 BCE found off

Ma'agan Michael Ma'agan Michael ( he, מַעֲגַן מִיכָאֵל, ''lit.'' Michael's Anchorage) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located on the Mediterranean Sea coast between Haifa and Hadera, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Counci ...

. * Scar boat burial,

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

. * The

Middleham Jewel The Middleham Jewel is a late 15th-century gold pendant, set with a large blue sapphire stone. Each side of the lozenge-shaped pendant is engraved with a religious scene. It was discovered by a metal detectorist in 1985 near Middleham Castl ...

, a 15th-century pendant, found on a pathway at

Middleham Castle Middleham Castle is a ruined castle in Middleham in Wensleydale, in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It was built by Robert Fitzrandolph, 3rd Lord of Middleham and Spennithorne, commencing in 1190. The castle was the childhood home of Ki ...

in Yorkshire (England). * The oldest known representation of a cannon, a stone relief sculpture dated 1128, is discovered carved in the walls of Cave 149 of the Dazu Rock Carvings in Dazu,

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

, China. * Discovery of a Roman amphitheatre at Guildhall, London. * Milecastle 4 of

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. R ...

located in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

Publications

Theresa A. Singleton Theresa A. Singleton is an American archaeologist and writer who focuses on the archaeology of African Americans, the African diaspora, and slavery in the United States. She is a leading archaeologist applying comparative approaches to the stu ...

(ed.) - ''The Archaeology of Slavery and Plantation Life''.

Events

* Ruins of Nan Madol in Micronesia declared a protected historic landmark.

Deaths

*April 11:

Olga Tufnell Olga Tufnell (26 January 1905 – 11 April 1985) was a British archaeologist who assisted on the excavation of the ancient city of Lachish in the 1930s. She had no formal training in archaeology, but had worked as a secretary for Flinders Petri ...

, English archaeologist of the Near East (born

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

) *April 18: Gertrude Caton Thompson, English archaeologist of Africa (born

1888 In Germany, 1888 is known as the Year of the Three Emperors. Currently, it is the year that, when written in Roman numerals, has the most digits (13). The next year that also has 13 digits is the year 2388. The record will be surpassed as late ...

) *December 5:

A. Ledyard Smith A. Ledyard Smith (full name Augustus Ledyard Smith) (1901–1985) was an American archaeologist who worked on various projects in the Maya region on behalf of the Carnegie Institution, including Uaxactun. From 1958 to 1963 he led investigations ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

archaeologist of the Americas (born

1901 Events January * January 1 – The Crown colony, British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and Western Australia Federation of Australia, federate as the Australia, ...

) *December 18:

Theresa Goell Theresa Bathsheba Goell (July 17, 1901 – December 18, 1985) was an American archaeologist, best known for directing excavations at Nemrud Dagh in south-eastern Turkey. Born in New York, she earned a BA at Radcliffe College, then graduated fro ...

, American archaeologist of the Near East (born 1901)

References

{{reflist Archaeology Archaeology Archaeology by year