The year 1965 in archaeology involved some significant events.

Explorations

Excavations

• Start of five-year project of excavations and restorations at Altun Ha led by Dr. David Pendergast of the Royal Ontario Museum.
• Start of 18-year excavations at Roman Baths (Bath) led by Barry Cunliffe.
• Start of three-year excavations at Bab edh-Dhra.^[1]
• Hinton St Mary Mosaic in England.
• Excavations at Brahmagiri by Amalananda Ghosh.
• Further excavations at the Roman temple of Bziza by Harutune Kalayan.
• The final version of the 33-metre-high (108 ft) Tikal Temple 33 at the ancient Maya city of Tikal in Guatemala is completely dismantled by archaeologists.
• Excavation at Tel Arad by Yohanan Aharoni (continues until 1967).

Finds

• March 19 - Wreck of the SS Georgiana is discovered off Charleston, South Carolina, exactly 102 years after her sinking, by E. Lee Spence.^[2][3][4]
• June - Jutholmen wreck (sunk c.1700) is discovered off Dalarö, Sweden.^[5]
• June - The Golden Bust of Septimius Severus is found in Didymoteicho, Greece.
• August - Mosaic floor at Sparsholt Roman Villa, Hampshire, England.
• November - Kyrenia ship is found near Kyrenia, Cyprus.
• December - Sword of Goujian is found in Jiangling County, China.
• Geologist Nikolai Samorukov finds petroglyphs in the rocks at Kaikuul Bluff overlooking the Pegtymel River in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia.
• Group of gold and silver vessels found at Tepe Fullol in northern Afghanistan.
• Fir Clump Stone Circle in Wiltshire, England, rediscovered.
• Mammoth remains found at Mezhirich, Ukraine.
• First fossilized fragment of the hominin later identified as Australopithecus anamensis found in the Kanapoi region of Lake Turkana.^[6]
• A carved stone head is discovered during excavations at Deganwy Castle in north Wales. Depicted wearing a crown, the figure may represent Llywelyn the Great who rebuilt the castle in the first third of the 13th century.^[7][8]

Publications

• R. G. Collingwood and R. P. Wright - The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, vol. 1.
• P. V. Glob - Mosefolket Jernalderens Mennesker bevaret i 2000 Ar (The Bog People: Iron-Age man preserved).

Events

Deaths

• July 14 - Herbert Maryon, British conservator (b. 1874).
• October 5 - Sir Ian Richmond, British archaeologist of Ancient Rome (b. 1902).