1899 in archaeology

Events

• 31 December: A large standing stone at Stonehenge falls over.

  Explorations

• Tell Halaf, Syria, discovered by Max von Oppenheim.

  Excavations

• Excavations of Babylon by Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft directed by Robert Koldewey begin.
• Excavation of Anglo-Saxon town wall in Clarendon Quadrangle of Bodleian Library, Broad Street, Oxford, England.

  Finds

• Shang dynasty oracle bones from the site of Yinxu are discovered by Wang Yiron, director of the Imperial College of China.
• Roman Empire-related silver plate is found near Qalagah, Azerbaijan.
• Sand quarriers find over 800 fragmentary Neanderthal remains representing at least 12 and likely as many as 70 individuals on the hill of Hušnjakovo in Krapina in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, identified by Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger.

  Publications

• An article by Ernest-Théodore Hamy about the Dumbarton Oaks birthing figure.

  Births

• 30 December: Helge Ingstad, Norwegian explorer; co-discoverer of Viking artifacts at L'Anse aux Meadows.
• William Duncan Strong, American archaeologist and anthropologist.