Below are notable events in archaeology that occurred in 1951.

Excavations

• c. January - Old Furnace, Coalbrookdale, England.^[1]
• Awwam temple near Ma'rib in Yemen, by Wendell Phillips of the American Foundation for the Study of Man (continues to 1952).
• Stanwick Iron Age Fortifications in North Yorkshire, by Mortimer Wheeler (continues to 1952).
• Hod Hill in Dorset, by Ian Richmond for the British Museum (continues to 1958).
• Tasghîmût fortress in Morocco, by Charles Allain and Jacques Meunié.^[2]
• Excavation of Chogha Zanbil in Iran by Roman Ghirshman begins.

Explorations

• 1951–1952 - British Academy Middle Nile Expedition in Sudan led by O. G. S. Crawford.

Finds

• May 12 - Gunnister Man found in a peat bog in Shetland.

Events

• July - The term "Industrial archaeology" is first used in print in Britain.^[3]
• The Durrës Archaeological Museum is established in Durrës, Albania.^[4]

Publications

• Social Evolution, by V. Gordon Childe (1892–1957), Australian-born archaeologist.
• The Prehistory of Wales, by W. F. Grimes (1905–1988), Welsh archaeologist.
• A Land, by Jacquetta Hawkes (1910–1996), British archaeologist.

Births

• Keith Muckelroy, British maritime archaeologist (d. 1980)

Deaths

• February 28 - Maud Cunnington, British archaeologist (b. 1869)