1949 in archaeology

Below are notable events in archaeology that occurred in 1949.

Events

 * November 21–23 - First Internationales Sachsensymposion held.
 * University of New Mexico transfers lands to the National Park Service and expands Chaco Canyon National Monument, with the proviso that the university may continue scientific research.

Excavations

 * February 15 - Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux begin excavations at Cave 1 of the Qumran Caves in the West Bank region of Jordan, the location of the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls.
 * Excavation work recommences at the Peking Man Site in Zhoukoudian, China.
 * Alberto Ruz Lhuillier begins excavations of the Temple of the Inscriptions, Palenque.
 * Seton Lloyd begins excavations at Sakçagözü.
 * Grahame Clark begins excavations at Star Carr, North Yorkshire (continues to 1951).
 * Conclusion of excavations in the Vatican Necropolis.

Finds

 * Radiocarbon dating technique discovered by Willard Libby and his colleagues during his tenure as a professor at the University of Chicago.
 * Anak Tomb No. 3 (dated 357 CE) found in North Korea.
 * New excavations at Peking Man Site in Zhoukoudian, China unearth 5 teeth and fragments of thigh and shin bone.
 * First new discoveries of Nimrud ivories by British School of Archaeology in Iraq led by Max Mallowan.
 * 12th century murals discovered in Coombes Church, West Sussex, England.

Publications

 * 'C. W. Ceram' - Götter, Gräber und Gelehrte (Gods, Graves and Scholars: the story of archaeology).
 * T. D. Kendrick - Late Saxon and Viking Art.

Births

 * Dolores Piperno - American archaeologist

Deaths

 * 23 April - Percy Newberry, English archaeologist (b. 1869)