2002 in archaeology

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	In science 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
	Art; Archaeology; Architecture; Literature; Music; Philosophy; Science; +...

Explorations

March – Part of the podium of the Temple of Apollo in Mdina, Malta is discovered and subsequently excavated.^[1]

February – Remains of oldest known European early modern humans at this time found in Peștera cu Oase, Romania.
May 1 – Horncastle boar's head, an early 7th-century Anglo-Saxon ornament, probably part of a helmet crest, discovered in the eastern English town of Horncastle by a metal detectorist.
May 3 – Amesbury Archer, a Bronze Age burial found near Stonehenge in England.
June – Newport Ship (medieval) in south-east Wales.
October – Banc Ty'nddôl sun-disc in mid-Wales.
3,500-year-old human remains found in the Citadel of Damascus.
Mask of la Roche-Cotard (Mousterian) found beside the Loire in France.

Brief reappearance and study of Seaton Carew Wreck.
Ciampate del Diavolo (early hominid footprints in Italy) come to scientific attention.
December 29 – 70,000 excavated artifacts from the Ōfune Site in Japan are damaged or destroyed when fire breaks out in an exhibition room.^[2]

March 31 – Carlos J. Gradin, Argentine archaeologist (born 1918)^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]
April 28 – Gordon Willey, American archaeologist (born 1913)^[7]
June 26 – Barbara Adams, English Egyptologist (born 1945)^[8]

^ Testa, Michael (19 March 2002). "New find at Mdina most important so far in old capital". Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016.
^ "最古級の漆製品焼失で視察／関係者が北海道南茅部町に" [Officials in Minamikayabe, Hokkaido say oldest lacquerware was burned]. Shikoku News (in Japanese). 2002-12-30. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
^ "Lands, Hands And Cyanide: Mining Expansion In Northwest Santa Cruz". www.minesandcommunities.org. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
^ "Cueva de las Manos. Historia de las Investigaciones en el sitio arquelógico". www.cuevadelasmanos.org. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
^ Identifiants et référentiels pour l'Enseignement. "Gradín, Carlos Joaquín (1918-2002)" (in French). Archived from the original on 2021-05-01. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
^ Gradin, Carlos J.; Oliva, Fernando (2004). La región pampeana: su pasado arqueológico. Laborde. ISBN 987-9459-68-7. OCLC 1025944494. In The Library of Congress. "Gradin, Carlos J." id.loc.gov. LCCN no92033009. Archived from the original on 2021-05-02. Retrieved 2021-06-22.
^ "Obituary: Gordon Willey". theguardian.com. 10 May 2002. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
^ "Obituary: Barbara Adams". The Guardian. 13 July 2002. Retrieved 9 October 2017.