1897 in archaeology

Explorations

• Rudolf Ernst Brünnow and Alfred von Domaszewski begin a two-year expedition to the Arabian Peninsula, including Petra.

Excavations

• Excavation of Glastonbury Lake Village by Arthur Bulleid and Harold St George Gray begins.
• Maud Cunnington carries out her first excavations in the Devizes area of England.
• Excavation of the first Mycenaean chamber tombs in Kolonaki at Thebes, Greece, by Dimitrios Filios.
• Excavation of Nekhen in Egypt begins.
• Excavation of Susa in Iran by a French expedition led by Jacques de Morgan begins.

Finds

• May - Yde Girl, a bog body, is discovered in the village of Yde, The Netherlands.
• August 4 - The "Lady of Elche" Iberian sculpture is found at L'Alcúdia near Elche in Spain.
• Coligny calendar.
• Alekanovo inscription.
• Silver and gold tubes of the Maykop culture from a burial mound in Armenia, interpreted in 2022 as drinking straws for communal beer consumption.

Events

• February 18 - Conclusion of the Benin Expedition of 1897, leading to the Benin Bronzes being carried off to London.

Publications

• William Copeland Borlase - The Dolmens of Ireland: their distribution, structural characteristics, and affinities in other countries, together with the folklore attaching to them; supplemented by considerations on the anthropology, ethnology, and traditions of the Irish people.

Births

• June 1 - Yang Zhongjian, father of Chinese vertebrate paleontology.
• August 21 - Victor Erle Nash-Williams, Welsh archaeologist.
• October 30 - Einar Gjerstad, Swedish archaeologist of the ancient Mediterranean.

Deaths

• May 5 - James Theodore Bent, English explorer, archaeologist and author.
• May 21 - Augustus Wollaston Franks, English antiquarian.