1956 in archaeology
Encyclopedia
The year 1956 in archaeology
involved some significant events.
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
involved some significant events.
Excavations
- Large University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
project at TikalTikalTikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centres of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala...
begins. - Excavations of the NeolithicNeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
settlement at Argissa MagoulaArgissa MagoulaArgissa Magoula is a Neolithic settlement mound in Thessaly in Greece. It was excavated by Vladimir Milojčić from the University of Heidelberg in the 1950s. He claimed to have found evidence of an aceramic Neolithic, but this has been disputed.-Sources:...
in ThessalyThessalyThessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
by Vladimir Milojčić of the University of HeidelbergHeidelberg-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
begin (continue to 1958). - Excavations of the Danubian NeolithicNeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
settlement at BylanyBylany (archaeology)Bylany is a Danubian Neolithic settlement located around east of Prague in the Czech region of Bohemia. Excavation began in 1956 and work continues today....
in BohemiaBohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
begin. - Excavations at BrahmagiriBrahmagiri archaeological siteBrahmagiri is an archaeological site located in the Chitradurga district of the state of Karnataka, India. The site was first explored by Benjamin L. Rice in 1891, who discovered rock edicts of Emperor Ashoka here. These rock edicts indicated that the locality was termed as Isila and denoted the...
. - Excavations at Teppe HasanluTeppe HasanluTeppe Hasanlu or Tappeh Hassanlu is an archeological site of an ancient city located in northwest Iran , a short distance south of Lake Urmia...
begin (continue to 1974).
Publications
- Documents in Mycenaean Greek by Michael VentrisMichael VentrisMichael George Francis Ventris, OBE was an English architect and classical scholar who, along with John Chadwick, was responsible for the decipherment of Linear B.Ventris was educated in Switzerland and at Stowe School...
and John ChadwickJohn ChadwickJohn Chadwick was an English linguist and classical scholar most famous for his role in deciphering Linear B, along with Michael Ventris.-Early life and education:...
; documenting decypherment of Linear BLinear BLinear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. It pre-dated the Greek alphabet by several centuries and seems to have died out with the fall of Mycenaean civilization...
writing.
Finds
- Anders FranzénAnders FranzénAnders Franzén was a Swedish marine technician and an amateur naval archaeologist. He is most famous for having located the 1628 wreck of the Swedish galleon Vasa in 1956 and participated in her salvage 1959-1961...
locates the SwedishSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
warshipWarshipA warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...
Vasa, sunk on her maiden voyageMaiden voyageThe maiden voyage of a ship, aircraft or other craft is the first journey made by the craft after shakedown. A number of traditions and superstitions are associated with it....
in 1628, in StockholmStockholmStockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
harbor.
Miscellaneous
- W. F. GrimesW. F. GrimesProfessor William Francis Grimes was a Welsh archaeologist who devoted his career to the archaeology of London and the prehistory of Wales. Born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, he received his education at the University of Wales. He held a number of prominent posts in Wales, including Chairman of the...
succeeds V. Gordon ChildeVere Gordon ChildeVere Gordon Childe , better known as V. Gordon Childe, was an Australian archaeologist and philologist who specialised in the study of European prehistory. A vocal socialist, Childe accepted the socio-economic theory of Marxism and was an early proponent of Marxist archaeology...
as director of the University of LondonUniversity of London-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
Institute of ArchaeologyInstitute of ArchaeologyThe UCL Institute of Archaeology is an academic department of the Social & Historical Sciences Faculty of University College London , England. It is one of the largest departments of archaeology in the world, with over 80 members of academic staff and 500 students...
.
Deaths
- June 6: Hiram Bingham IIIHiram Bingham IIIHiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham III, was an academic, explorer, treasure hunter and politician from the United States. He made public the existence of the Quechua citadel of Machu Picchu in 1911 with the guidance of local indigenous farmers...
, AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rediscoverer of Machu PicchuMachu PicchuMachu Picchu is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is northwest of Cusco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for...
(b. 18751875 in archaeologyThe year 1875 in archaeology involved some significant events.-Excavations:*Hermes and the infant Dionysos by Praxiteles or his followers, a Hellenistic or Roman copy after the original of 4th century BC is discovered in the rubble of the ruined Temple of Hera at Olympia, Greece...
). - September 6: Michael VentrisMichael VentrisMichael George Francis Ventris, OBE was an English architect and classical scholar who, along with John Chadwick, was responsible for the decipherment of Linear B.Ventris was educated in Switzerland and at Stowe School...
, EnglishEnglish peopleThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
co-decypherer of Linear BLinear BLinear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. It pre-dated the Greek alphabet by several centuries and seems to have died out with the fall of Mycenaean civilization...
(car accident) (b. 19221922 in archaeologyThe year 1922 in archaeology involved some significant events.-Excavations:* November 4 - Howard Carter discovers Tutankhamun's tomb. He opens it in the presence of George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, on November 26....
). - September 12: John GarstangJohn GarstangJohn Garstang was a British archaeologist of the ancient Near East, especially Anatolia and the southern Levant....
, English archaeologist of the Near EastNear EastThe Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
(in BeirutBeirutBeirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
) (b. 18761876 in archaeologyThe year 1876 in archaeology involved some significant events.-Finds:* The "Mask of Agamemnon" found at Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann. Later in the year Schliemann supposedly telegraphs a Greek newspaper "I have gazed on the face of Agamemnon"....
). - November 9: Alan WaceAlan WaceAlan John Bayard Wace was an English archaeologist.Wace was educated at Shrewsbury School and Pembroke College, Cambridge...
, English archaeologist who worked on Linear B (b. 18791879 in archaeologyThe year 1879 in archaeology involved some significant events.-Excavations:* Major excavation at Babylon, conducted by Hormuzd Rassam on behalf of the British Museum. Work continues until 1882.-Finds:* Bison, on the ceiling of a cave at Altamira, Spain...
).