1996 in archaeology
The year 1996 in archaeology involved some significant events.
Explorations
- Preliminary survey of Buckton Castle in the north west of England.
- A Bronze Age site, al-Moghraqa, was discovered by Moain Sadeq in Gaza Governorate, Palestine.
- December: the Byzantine Church of Jabalia in Palestine is discovered during repairs to the Salah al-Din Road.
Excavations
- July – excavations at Blakhiya Byzantine cemetery in Palestine take place under the auspices of the Department of Antiquities of Gaza and the École Biblique.
- Large-scale, wide-scope horizontal excavations begin at Daepyeong, a large Mumun Pottery Period settlement in Korea.
- Excavations near Bogazköy by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft begin.
- Excavation of the Portuguese nau ''Nossa Senhora dos Mártires'' at the mouth of the Tagus begins.
- First excavation of medieval drain at Paisley Abbey in Scotland.
Publications
- Matthew Johnson - An Archaeology of Capitalism.
- Denise Schmandt-Besserat - How Writing Came About.
- Rita P. Wright - Gender and Archaeology.
- First issue of e-journal Internet Archaeology.
Finds
- July: Mass grave of victims of the Battle of Towton in England.
- July 28: Kennewick Man in the United States.
- August 4: Seaton Carew Wreck in England.
- November 21: Pirate flagship Queen Anne's Revenge in North Carolina.
- Herxheim archaeological site, a Neolithic Linear Pottery culture ritual center and mass grave at Herxheim in southwest Germany.
- The Keltenfürst (Celtic prince) of Glauberg in Germany, a life-size sandstone statue of a warrior dating from the 5th century BCE.
- Ekron Royal Dedicatory Inscription in Israel.
- Lod Mosaic in Israel.Croatian Apoxyomenos off the Croatian islet of Vele Orjule.Hermes of Messene in Messene, Greece.
- Ōfune Site, one of the Jōmon Archaeological Sites in Hokkaidō, Japan.
- "Great Dover Street woman" from Roman Britain in London.
- Polychrome wall paintings at church of St Mary the Virgin in the deserted village of Houghton on the Hill, Norfolk, England.
Events
- Yale University Bonampak Documentation Project begins at Maya site of Bonampak.
- November 2: Sendai City Tomizawa Site Museum opens in Japan.
Deaths
- January 17- William Lamplough, British archaeologist.
- March 18 - Jacquetta Hawkes, British archaeologist.
- September 23 - Stuart Piggott, British archaeologist.
- November 14 - Martyn Jope, British archaeologist and biochemist.
- December 9 - Mary Leakey, British archaeologist and anthropologist.