2015 in archaeology

This page lists major archaeological events of 2015.

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Explorations

• July–September – Survey and identification of British Royal Navy submarine HMS D5 (sunk 1914 following the Raid on Yarmouth) in the North Sea.
• University of Bradford 'Europe's Lost Frontiers' project begins mapping the Palaeolithic landscapes of Doggerland beneath the North Sea.[1]

Excavations

• April 9–10 – A winter diving expedition on the Franklin expedition ship HMS Erebus, consisting of Parks Canada underwater archaeologists and Royal Canadian Navy divers, commences.[2]
• May–October – Griffin Warrior Tomb near Pylos.
• September
  • Start of major excavations at Must Farm Bronze Age settlement in The Fens of eastern England by archaeologists from Cambridge.[3]
  • Excavation of abandoned Bradford Park Avenue football stadium in England.[4]
• End – Enigma Shipwrecks Project investigates the Levantine Sea.[5]
• Excavation of Hill 20, a site in the Battle of Ypres, begins.
• 2015–2017 – Investigation of the Pictish site of Dunnicaer.
• Excavations at Craig Rhos-y-felin in the Preseli Hills of south-west Wales end (begun 2011).

Finds

• January 4 – The discovery of the tomb of Khentakawess III in Abusir is announced.[6][7]
• January 27 – Discovery of an extinct Homo bone under Penghu Strait in Taiwan named Penghu 1 is published.[8]
• June- discovery of almost eight million animal mummies next to the sacred temple of Anubis is announced in Egypt, in Saqqara[9]
• July – Discovery of two possible tunnels in Tutankhamun's tomb by Nicholas Reeves.[10]
• October – Watlington Hoard of Anglo-Saxon silver coins and other items found in Oxfordshire, England, by a metal detectorist.[11]
• December 19 – Discovery of the wreck of a merchant ship in the Indian Ocean, thought to be the West Ridge (lost 1883).[12]
• Pylos Combat Agate from Griffin Warrior Tomb excavated, but not published until 2017.[13]
• Wreck of British Royal Navy submarine HMS Saracen (P247) (sunk 1943) located off Corsica.[14]

Publications

• January 28 – Nature reports the dating of a modern human skull from Manot cave is the first evidence in support of the Out of Africa theory and shows modern humans living alongside Neanderthals in the Levant.[15][16]

Events

• March 5–8 – The ancient city sites of Nimrud, Hatra and Dur-Sharrukin in Iraq are demolished by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).[17][18][19]
• May – The Temple of Baalshamin is destroyed by ISIS.[20]
• June – Welsh metal detectorists discover a large Viking and Anglo-Saxon coin and jewellery hoard at Eye, Herefordshire on the English border but steal and conceal most of the find.[21]

Deaths

• January 25 – Giancarlo Ligabue, Italian paleontologist, discoverer of Ligabueino (b. 1931)[22]
• February 25 – Sheppard Frere, British archaeologist of the Roman Empire (b. 1916)[23]
• April 9 – Margaret Rule, British maritime archaeologist (b. 1928)[24]
• August 18 – Khaled al-Asaad, Syrian archaeologist (b. 1934)[25]

See also

• List of years in archaeology

References

1. "Europe's Lost Frontiers". University of Bradford. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
2. Davison, Janet (2015-04-06). "Franklin Expedition search: Ice dive team ready to discover more secrets of HMS Erebus". CBC News. Retrieved 2015-04-13.
3. "About - Must Farm". www.mustfarm.com. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
4. "Archaeological dig starts at old Bradford football stadium". BBC News. 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
5. Alberge, Dalya (2020-04-18). "Mediterranean shipwrecks reveal 'birth of globalisation' in trade". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
6. "Tomb of previously unknown pharaonic queen found in Egypt". The Express Tribune. Karachi. 4 January 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
7. "Unknown queen's tomb found in Egypt". BBC News. 2015-01-05. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
8. Chang, Chun-Hsiang; Kaifu, Yousuke; Takai, Masanaru; Kono, Reiko T.; Grün, Rainer; Matsu’ura, Shuji; Kinsley, Les; Lin, Liang-Kong (2015). "The first archaic Homo from Taiwan". Nature Communications. 6: 6037. doi:10.1038/ncomms7037. PMC 4316746. PMID 25625212.
9. "Mass Grave Of Eight Million Mummified Dogs Unearthed Near Cairo". Egyptian Streets. 2015-06-24. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
10. "Inspection of King Tut's Tomb Reveals Hints of Hidden Chambers". National Geographic News. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
11. Kennedy, Maev (2015-12-10). "Watlington hoard of Viking silver casts light on Alfred the Great era". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
12. Millward, David (2018-05-03). "Search for missing MH370 solves 19th-century British shipping mystery". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
13. "Unearthing a masterpiece". University of Cincinnati. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
14. Gallagher, Paul (2015-06-27). "HMS Saracen: Meeting the last survivor of a submarine found 72 years after it was scuttled". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
15. Hershkovitz, Israel; Marder, Ofer; Ayalon, Avner; Bar-Matthews, Miryam; Yasur, Gal; Boaretto, Elisabetta; Caracuta, Valentina; Alex, Bridget; et al. (2015). "Levantine cranium from Manot Cave (Israel) foreshadows the first European modern humans". Nature. 520 (7546): 216–9. doi:10.1038/nature14134. PMID 25629628.
16. "55,000-Year-Old Skull Fossil Sheds New Light on Human Migration out of Africa". Science News. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
17. "ISIL fighters bulldoze ancient Assyrian palace in Iraq". Al Jazeera. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
18. "Reports: ISIS bulldozed ancient Hatra city in Mosul - RiyadhVision". RiyadhVision. 7 March 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
19. "Ancient site Khorsabad attacked by Islamic State: reports". Toronto Star. 8 March 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
20. "Here Are the Ancient Sites ISIS Has Damaged and Destroyed". National Geographic. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
21. "Detectorists stole Viking hoard that 'rewrites history'". BBC News. 2019-11-21. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
22. "In memory of Giancarlo Ligabue". www.ligabuemagazine.it. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
23. Manning, William (2015-03-10). "Sheppard Frere obituary". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
24. "Margaret Rule obituary". The Guardian. London. 2015-04-16. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
25. "Khaled al-Asaad, curator - obituary". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2017-05-16.