1958 in archaeology
The year 1958 in archaeology involved some significant events.
Explorations
- Neolithic Tomb of the Eagles on Orkney first explored by Ronald Simison.
- Anil de Silva plans an all-woman expedition to China for herself, Romila Thapar and photographer Dominique Darbois to study the cave paintings in Dunhuang and the Maijishan Grottoes in Gansu province.
Excavations
- Maya site of Dzibilchaltun, National Geographic Society project under E. Wyllys Andrews IV.
- Maya site of Altar de Sacrificios, Peabody Museum project under A. Ledyard Smith and Gordon Willey.
- Excavation project at Sardis by Harvard University and Cornell University begins.
- Excavation at Great Zimbabwe under Roger Summers.
- Excavations at Adlun in Southern Lebanon under Dorothy Garrod begin.
- Excavations at Vaishali in Bihar begin.
- Excavations at Brunswick Town, North Carolina under Stanley South begin.
- Excavations at the Roman fort of Petuaria near Brough, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, begin.
- Excavations and re-erection of trilithon at Stonehenge in England.
Finds
- February 7: Discovery of "Deep Skull" in Niah Caves in Sarawak by Barbara and Tom Harrisson, at around 40,000 years BP the oldest known evidence of Homo sapiens in southeast Asia.
- April 2: Accidental discovery of the Caernarfon Mithraeum in Wales.
- July 4: St Ninian's Isle Treasure in Shetland by Douglas Coutts.
- August 18: Accidental discovery of Brymbo Man in Wales.
- October 26: Accidental discovery of wreckage from the Australian National Airways' 1931 Avro Ten Southern Cloud disappearance in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales.
- Workshop of Phidias at Olympia.
- Çatalhöyük.
- Bajo de la Campana Phoenician shipwreck site on the Mediterranean coast of Spain first identified by divers.
Publications
- M. W. Beresford and J. K. S. St Joseph - Medieval England : an aerial survey.
- John Chadwick - The Decipherment of Linear B.
- Gordon R. Willey and Philip Phillips - Method and Theory in American Archaeology.
Events
- December 12–14: '' conference held in Oxford, organised by the Council for British Archaeology.
Births
- May 18: David Mattingly, English archaeologist and historian of the Roman world
Deaths
- August 17: John Marshall, English Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India