Below are notable events in archaeology that occurred in 1879.

Explorations

Excavations

• Major excavation at Babylon, conducted by Hormuzd Rassam on behalf of the British Museum. Work continues until 1882.
• Excavation of the group tomb of the Sacred Band of Thebes who fell in the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC) in Boeotia by Panagiotis Stamatakis.^[1]
• Excavation of the stone circles of Junapani by J. H. Rivett-Carnac in Maharashtra.

Finds

• April 12: Burial of a Thracian chieftain at Dalboki in central Bulgaria.^[2]
• Paintings of bison on the ceiling of the Cave of Altamira in Spain. c.12000 BC; accepted as authentic in 1902.
• Bronze Age weapons hoard at New Bradwell, Buckinghamshire, England.

Publications

Events

• May 10: Establishment of the Archaeological Institute of America.^[3]
• Establishment of the Bureau of Ethnology.
• Percy Gardner is elected to the Disney Professorship of Archaeology in the University of Cambridge.

Births

• March 29 - Alan Gardiner, English Egyptologist (died 1963).
• July 13 - Alan Wace, English Classical archaeologist (died 1957).
• September 13 - Harry Burton, English archaeological photographer, known for his photos of the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb (died 1940).
• Grace Mary Crowfoot, née Hood, English textile archaeologist (died 1957).

Deaths