1902 in archaeology

Excavations

• Leopoldo Batres initiates first major excavations at Monte Albán.
• E. A. Wallis Budge begins project at Meroë.
• Ludwig Borchardt leads Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft excavations at the Ancient Egyptian necropolis of Abusir.
• Georgios Sotiriadis excavates the tomb of the Macedonian warriors at the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC).

Finds

• May 17 – Antikythera mechanism found by Valerios Stais
• Lansing Man found near Lansing, Kansas on the western bank of the Missouri River
• Etruscan chariot at Monteleone di Spoleto
• Tuxtla Statuette
• Böyük Dəhnə ancient artifacts
• Saimaluu Tash petroglyphs
• Tomb KV45 in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, discovered by Howard Carter working for Theodore M. Davis.
• Neolithic settlement of Magoula Balomenou near Chaeronea, discovered by Georgios Sotiriadis.

Miscellaneous

• Images of bison on the ceiling of the Cave of Altamira, Spain, accepted as authentic of c. 12000 BC.
• Restoration of Lion of Chaeronea begins.

Births

• February 19 – Humfry Payne, English Classical archaeologist.
• May 10 – Ian Richmond, British archaeologist of Ancient Rome.
• August 25 – Clarence Hungerford Webb, American archaeologist.
• Arvid Andrén, Swedish classical art historian.

Deaths

• March 2 – Kate Bradbury Griffith, English Egyptologist
• October 7 – Henry Syer Cuming, antiquarian, collector and secretary of the British Archaeological Association