The year 1997 in archaeology involved some significant events.

Explorations

Excavations

• The exhumation of Yagan's head.
• Major salvage excavation of Neolithic-era Ashkelon begun by Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (continues to 1998).
• Excavation at Jericho by Lorenzo Nigro and Nicolo Marchetti.

Publications

• Barry Cunliffe - The Ancient Celts (Oxford University Press)
• Sarah Milledge Nelson (ed.) - The Archaeology of Northeast China: Beyond the Great Wall (London: Routledge).
• Sarah Milledge Nelson - Gender in Archaeology: Analyzing Power and Prestige (Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press).
• Bernard Sergent - Gen se de l'Inde (Paris: Payot).

Finds

• Megalosaurus and Cetiosaurus footprints are identified at Ardley, Oxfordshire, by Christopher Jackson.

Awards

Miscellaneous

• July 10: In London, scientists report their DNA analysis findings from a Neandertal skeleton which support the out of Africa theory of human evolution placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
• July 19: Emergency designation of the wreck of the Hanover under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973.
• Bryn Euryn, an archaeological site near Colwyn Bay, is identified as the probable base of Cynlas Goch, a 6th-century Welsh king.

Births

Deaths

• 6 November: Anne Stine Ingstad, Norwegian archaeologist (b. 1918).

no:Arkeologi ret 1997