1955 in archaeology
The year 1955 in archaeology involved some significant events.
Explorations
- Thor Heyerdahl organizes the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island.
- Start of extensive discoveries at the Anglo-Saxon cemetery on Loveden Hill in Lincolnshire, England.
Excavations
- September - Gustav Riek begins systematic excavations at Brillenhöhle.
- A. C. O'Dell begins excavations on St Ninian's Isle.
- Alexander Sahinian begins excavations at Etchmiadzin Cathedral in Armenia.
- A. Ledyard Smith makes the first archaeological investigation of the Mayan site of Chutixtiox in Guatemala.
- Archaeological Survey of India begins excavations at Nagda chalcolithic site.
- A Hebrew University team led by Yigal Yadin begins excavations at Tel Hazor.
- Excavation of Qujialing culture type site in China begins.
Publications
- Cyril Fox - Offa's Dyke: a Field Survey of the Western Frontier Works of Mercia in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries AD.
- Ivan D. Margary - Roman Roads in Britain, vol. 1.
- I. A. Richmond - Roman Britain.
Finds
- May 19 - Greenock Coin Hoard in Scotland.
- Pesse canoe, the oldest known boat, in the Netherlands.
- First remains of Paranthropus boisei — teeth of Olduvai Hominin 3 — unearthed in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.
Miscellaneous
- October - The term "Industrial archaeology" is popularised.
Births
- January 1 - Mary Beard, English Classicist.
- April 20 - Svante Pääbo, Swedish paleogeneticist.
- September 30 - Martin Millett, English Classical archaeologist.
Deaths
- January 1 - Arthur C. Parker, part-Seneca American archaeologist and ethnographer of Native Americans in the United States.
- March 31 - Thomas Dunbabin, Australian-born Classical archaeologist and Greek Resistance leader.
- August 17 - Edward Thurlow Leeds, English archaeologist of the Anglo-Saxons.
- October 29 - Alexander Keiller, British archaeologist and benefactor.
- December 15 - V. E. Nash-Williams, Welsh archaeologist.
- December 25 - Thomas J. Preston, Jr., American archaeologist.