1927 in archaeology explained

Below are notable events in archaeology that occurred in 1927.

Excavations

• Large scale excavations begin at Peking Man Site in Zhoukoudian, China under Canadian paleoanthropologist Davidson Black with support from the Rockefeller Foundation.
• The Swedish Cyprus Expedition begins 3½ years of excavations under Einar Gjerstad.
• Excavations at Skara Brae begin under V. Gordon Childe (completed in 1930).^[1]
• Excavations at Tepe Gawra begin by an American team under Ephraim Avigdor Speiser.
• Pločnik archaeological site discovered in southern Serbia, with findings of the Vinca culture (5500 BC).
• Excavations begin at Garðar Cathedral Ruins.

Finds

• Davidson Black's excavations at Peking Man Site in Zhoukoudian, China yield a human tooth that he proposed belonged to a new species that he names Sinanthropus pekinensis.
• Skeleton of Asselar man discovered by Théodore Monod and Wladimir Besnard in the Adrar des Ifoghas.
• Kents Cavern 4 maxilla found in England.
• Leonard Woolley's excavations at Ur uncover the Enheduanna calcite disc.
• "Priest-King" sculpture from the Indus Valley civilisation found at Mohenjo-daro.^[2]
• First location of wreckage from the VOC Zuytdorp in Western Australia.
• Pilot Percy Maitland observes stone wheel-like structures across Syria and Saudi Arabia.^[3]

Publications

• March - The journal Antiquity is first published in the United Kingdom. In the first two issues, the editor O. G. S. Crawford dismisses the Glozel artifacts as largely fakes.^[4]
• Alan Gardiner's is first published.

Other events

• Work begins on draining Lake Nemi to recover the Nemi ships.
• December - An international commission declares most artefacts from the excavations at Glozel to be forgeries.

Births

• January 14 - Rodolphe Kasser, Swiss philologist and archaeologist (d. 2013)^[5]
• February 10 - Bridget Allchin, British archaeologist and prehistorian (d. 2017)^[6]
• July 1 - Leo Klejn, Russian archaeologist, anthropologist and philologist (d. 2019)
• August 20 - John Boardman, British classical archaeologist and art historian (d. 2024)^[7]
• November 4 - Ivor Noël Hume, British historical archaeologist (d. 2017)^[8]

Deaths

• January 21 - Gen. Sir Charles Warren, British Biblical archaeologist (born 1840)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Excavation - Canmore. canmore.org.uk. 30 May 2017. en.
2. Web site: "Priest King," Mohenjo-daro. Jonathan Mark Kenoyer. Jonathan Mark. Kenoyer. Harappa.com. 2021-06-16.
3. Book: Hartston, William. William Hartston

   . Who built thousands of giant stone wheel-like structures in the Middle East?. 383–4. William Hartston. The Bumper Book of Things That Nobody Knows. London. Atlantic Books. 2017. 978-1-78649-998-1.

4. Book: Magnusson, Magnus. Magnus Magnusson

   . Magnus Magnusson. Fakers, Forgers & Phoneys. Edinburgh. Mainstream. 2007. 2006. 978-1-84596-210-4. 144–4.

5. Web site: Profiles. https://web.archive.org/web/20060420004738/http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/Rodolphe_Kasser.html. dead. April 20, 2006. nationalgeographic.com. 17 May 2017.
6. Web site: Bridget Allchin obituary. The Guardian. 23 August 2017.
7. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PAL/is_531_163/ai_n16462480 Interview with Diana Scarisbrick
8. Web site: Ivor Noël Hume, Archaeologist of Colonial America, Dies at 89. The New York Times. 10 November 2017. 19 February 2017.