2012 in archaeology

The year 2012 in archaeology involved some significant events.

Explorations

• January - Discovery of a first-century farmhouse on the building site of the new stadium in the south of Marseille.^[1]

Excavations

• Excavation of working-class back-to-back houses from the Industrial Revolution period at Chapel Street in Salford, Greater Manchester, England.^[2]
• June 6 - Excavators from Museum of London Archaeology announce that they have uncovered the remains of the Elizabethan Curtain Theatre in Shoreditch.^[3][4]
• August 24 - The University of Leicester Archaeological Services and Leicester City Council, in association with the Richard III Society, announce that they have joined forces to begin a search for the site of Greyfriars, Leicester, burial place of King Richard III of England.^[5][6] On September 5 the excavators announce that they have identified the church.^[7][8] and on September 12 it is announced that a skeleton discovered during the search could have been that of Richard III,^[9] a supposition confirmed in 2013.^[10]
• October - Remains of substantial Mesolithic buildings are identified in Britain at Echline in Scotland,^[11] Lunt Meadows at Sefton, Merseyside^[12] and from new investigations at Starr Carr in North Yorkshire.^[13]
• December - Archaeologists complete excavation of a 900-seat Athenaeum from the time of the Emperor Hadrian in Rome discovered during work on a Metro line at Piazza Venezia.^[14]

Finds

• Discovery of a rock inscription confirming the existence of Iry-Hor, the earliest ruler of Egypt know by name.^[15]
• January
  • The use of maize in Peru as early as 4700 BCE is confirmed.^[16]
  • Evidence for early Mayan tobacco use is published.^[17]
  • Discovery that the Vikings grew barley in Greenland.^[18]
• February 17 - Alabaster colossus of pharaoh Amenhotep III is discovered.^[19]
• March - Discovery of an inscribed doorjamb at Karnak giving the hitherto unknown titulary of pharaoh Senakhtenre Ahmose.^[20]
• March - A 7th century grave near Cambridge in England provides an early example of the transition from pagan Anglo-Saxon to Christian burial practices.^[21]
• March 30 - In Georgia, archeologists report unearthing jars containing what they believe to be the world's oldest honey.^[22]
• May - The oldest Mayan astronomical calendar discovered so far, from the 9th century, is reported from Xultun.^[23]
• May 9 - Archaeologists announce discovery on The Burren in Ireland of evidence of settlement from 6000 BCE.^[24]
• June 25 - In the Channel Island of Jersey, the discovery of a hoard of an estimated 30,000 – 50,000 Roman and Celtic coins by metal detectorists is announced.^[25]
• July
  • Discovery of 15th century underwear at Lengberg Castle in Austria is confirmed.^[26][27]
  • The wreck of the polar expedition ship Terra Nova is discovered off Greenland by the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor.^[28][29]
• September - A beeswax filling is discovered in the cracked tooth of a Neolithic man in Slovenia.^[30]
• October - In Jersey, the Trinity Hoard of Bronze Age tools and weapons is discovered.^[31]
• November - 2,400-year-old golden treasure near the Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari, Bulgaria ^[32]
• December - Discovery near Canterbury, England, of a 1st-century Iron Age bronze helmet containing a bag of cremated human remains is announced.^[33][34]

Miscellaneous

• February - Completion of whole genome sequencing on Ötzi (d. c.3255 BCE) identifies his paternal DNA with Sardinia.^[35]
• July - Mausoleums and a mosque in Timbuktu (Mali) are deliberately attacked by rebels, a war crime for which Ahmad al-Mahdi in 2016 pleads guilty before the International Criminal Court.

Deaths

• 19 July: Brian Dobson, British archaeologist notable for work on Hadrian's Wall and the Roman Army

References