1960 in archaeology

Excavations

• "Cave of Letters" at Nahal Hever in the Judaean Desert.
• Fishbourne Roman Palace, West Sussex.
• Floors excavated at the Una Vida great house, Chaco Canyon.
• Cape Gelidonya shipwreck excavation, by Peter Throckmorton, George F. Bass and Frédéric Dumas, begins.
• August: Excavations at Castle Tower, Penmaen, in Wales begin, led by Leslie Alcock of University College Cardiff. Further small-scale work is undertaken at the site the following year and the results published in 1966.

Publications

• Glyn Daniel - The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of France.

Finds

• Helge Ingstad and Anne Stine Ingstad find apparent Viking site at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.
• Tomb of Princess Yongtai found in Qianling Mausoleum, China.
• Azykh Cave is discovered by Mammadali Huseynov in Azerbaijan.
• November 4 - OH 7, first fragments of Homo habilis, discovered by Jonathan Leakey at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.
• Statue of Athena Demegorusa in Nicopolis, western Greece.

Events

• Chemical tests indicate that the Etruscan terracotta warriors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, are modern fakes.

Births

• April 21 - Nicholas Thomas, Australian-born British archaeologist of Oceania
• May 11 - Pál Sümegi, Hungarian geoarchaeologist
• September 1 - Eric H. Cline, American Classical archaeologist
• Timothy Taylor, English archaeologist

Deaths

• February 20 - Leonard Woolley, English archaeologist
• March 11 - Roy Chapman Andrews, American explorer
• May 13 - Antonios Keramopoulos, Greek archaeologist
• October 6 - Karel Absolon, Czech archaeologist