The year 2004 in

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

included many events, some of which are listed below.

Excavations

* Summer - Tambora culture in Indonesia. * September 29 - Fort Tanjong Katong in Singapore (excavations continue for 10 months). * Work by Jeffrey P. Brain on the

Popham Colony The Popham Colony—also known as the Sagadahoc Colony—was a short-lived English colonial settlement in North America. It was established in 1607 by the proprietary Plymouth Company and was located in the present-day town of Phippsburg, M ...

ends (began in 1994)

Explorations

* Start of the three-year

Bombay Before the British Bombay Before the British (BBB) was a three-year research project in the fields of History of Architecture and History of Urbanism, funded by the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through its Science and Technology ...

project. * Start of the

Iziko South African Museum The Iziko South African Museum, formerly the South African Museum (Afrikaans: Suid-Afrikaanse Museum), is a South African national museum located in Cape Town. The museum was founded in 1825, the first in the country. It has been on its present ...

project to attempt to identify the wreck of the

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting Slavery, slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea ( ...

'' Meermin''. * Preliminary excavations at

Must Farm Bronze Age settlement Must Farm is a Bronze Age archaeological site consisting of five houses raised on stilts above a river built around 950 BC in Cambridgeshire, England. The settlement is exceptionally well preserved because of its sudden destruction by catastrop ...

The Fens The Fens or Fenlands in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a system o ...

of eastern England.

Publications

* * *

Finds

* Huxley Hoard of 10th century Viking silver jewellery discovered near

Huxley, Cheshire Huxley is a small rural village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Hargrave and Huxley, in the Cheshire West and Chester district, and ceremonial county of Cheshire in England. In 2001 the parish had a population of 220, increasing t ...

, England. * Site of naval

Battle of the Aegates The Battle of the Aegates was a naval battle fought on 10 March 241 BC between the fleets of Carthage (state), Carthage and Roman Republic, Rome during the First Punic War. It took place among the Aegates Islands, off the western coast of the ...

(241 BCE) located off

Levanzo Levanzo (; ) is the smallest of the three main Aegadian Islands in the Mediterranean Sea west of Sicily, Italy. It forms a part of the municipality () of Favignana in the Province of Trapani. Geography Levanzo has an area of . The highest point ...

. * Salcombe B underwater archaeological site identified from

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

finds discovered on the

Salcombe Cannon Wreck The Salcombe Cannon wrecksite is close to two other designated wrecksites in the Erme Mouth, Erme Estuary which the South West Maritime Archaeological Group (SWMAG) was licensed to investigate. In 1992 this group described the Salcombe Cannon ...

site off the English south coast. *

Swash Channel Wreck The Swash Channel Wreck is the remains of an early 17th-century armed merchantman possibly of Dutch origin wrecked outside of Poole Harbour. The vessel was approximately 40 m long and has been predicted to be around 600 tonnes. The ship was ...

(early 17th century) rediscovered off

Poole Harbour Poole Harbour is a large natural harbour in Dorset, southern England, with the town of Poole on its shores. The harbour is a drowned valley ( ria) formed at the end of the last ice age and is the estuary of several rivers, the largest being th ...

on the English south coast. * Artifacts retrieved from the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

ship ''

Rooswijk The ''Rooswijk'' () was a ship belonging to the VOC (Dutch East India Company) that, according to recent, non-contemporary, news reports, sank in 1740. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England. Construction and service Accor ...

'' (1740) on the

Goodwin Sands Goodwin Sands is a sandbank at the southern end of the North Sea lying off the Deal, Kent, Deal coast in Kent, England. The area consists of a layer of approximately depth of fine sand resting on an Chalk, Upper Chalk platform belonging to ...

. * Shorwell helmet (Anglo-Saxon) found on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

. * Fossilized dinosaur brain found at

Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish in the Rother District in the county of East Sussex in South East England. It is located along the Sussex Coast and between the towns of Hastings, England, Hastings ...

on the English south coast.

Events

* November 15 -

Human Tissue Act 2004 The Human Tissue Act 2004 (c. 30) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that applied to England, Northern Ireland and Wales, which consolidated previous legislation and created the Human Tissue Authority to "regulate the removal, st ...

in Britain requires licences for the public display of human remains and provides for transfer of such remains from museum collections. * New calibration curve for

dendrochronology Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of chronological dating, dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed in a tree. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, ...

, ''INTCAL04'', internationally ratified for dates back to 26,000 BP. * Albert Goodyear of the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology announces that

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

at the Topper archaeological site in

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

dates it to approximately 50,000 years ago, or approximately 37,000 years before the

Clovis culture The Clovis culture is an archaeological culture from the Paleoindian period of North America, spanning around 13,050 to 12,750 years Before Present (BP). The type site is Blackwater Draw locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, where stone too ...

. * Brief reappearance and further study of Seaton Carew Wreck on the English north-east coast. * Graeme Barker elected to the Disney Professorship of Archaeology at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in England.

References

{{reflist 2000s in archaeology

Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

Archaeology by year