The year 1976 in archaeology involved some significant events.

Excavations

• The Chaco Project (National Park Service and University of New Mexico) excavates fourteen rooms at Pueblo Alto from 1976 to 1978.
• Hwangnyongsa, a large-scale Buddhist temple of the Korean Three Kingdoms state of Silla dating to AD 553 (excavations continue until 1983).
• Excavations at Tell Brak, Syria, are begun by a team from the Institute of Archaeology of the University of London (continue until 1981).
• Excavations at Tell el-'Oueili in Iraq are begun under the direction of Jean-Louis Huot (continue until 1989).
• Excavations in the Karakum Desert by Viktor Sarianidi uncover the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex.
• Excavations at Mezhirich, Ukraine, resume, by N. L. Korniets and M. I. Gladkih (continue to 1981).
• Neolithic Tomb of the Eagles in Orkney first excavated by Ronald Simison.^[1]
• Excavation at Twann Bahnhof neolithic pile dwelling site in Switzerland (begun 1974) concludes.
• Chogha Bonut discovered in Iran and excavation begins.
• Watch Hill Castle in Greater Manchester, England, partially excavated by the North Cheshire Archaeology Group under the direction of Barry Johnson^[2]
• Rescue excavation at Updown early medieval cemetery in Kent, England, led by Sonia Chadwick Hawkes uncovered 36 graves.^[3]

Publications

• The Landscape of Towns by Michael Aston and James Bond.
• La Résistance africaine à la Romanisation by Marcel Bénabou.
• The Stone Circles of the British Isles by Aubrey Burl.
• The Mycenaean World by John Chadwick.
• Prehistoric Maori Fortifications by Aileen Fox.^[4]
• "The integration of historical and archaeological data concerning an historic wreck site, the Kennemerland", by Keith Muckelroy, World Archaeology 7.3 pp 280–289.
• Farming in the Iron Age by Peter J Reynolds.
• Industrial Archeology: A New Look at the American Heritage by Theodore Anton Sande.^[5]

Finds

• Tomb of Fu Hao discovered at Yinxu.
• Joya de Cerén, "Pompeii of the Americas".
• Nim Li Punit.
• The fourth trove of Qabala treasures.
• Fossil animal footprints found at Laetoli, Tanzania.

Events

• August 8: Founding of the modern Korean Archaeological Society, in Seoul, South Korea.
• August 27: Round Table removed from the wall of Winchester Castle in England for archaeological examination.

Deaths

• July 22: Mortimer Wheeler, British archaeologist (b. 1890)^[6]
• November 1: Gustav Riek, German archaeologist (b. 1900)
• December 19: Neil Judd, American archaeologist (b. 1887)^[7]