Below are notable events in archaeology that occurred in 1940.

• Start of excavations at Tell Uqair by Iraqi Directorate General of Antiquities (Seton Lloyd, Taha Baqir and Fuad Safar).
• Start of excavations at Ahichatra.
• Start of excavations in the Vatican Necropolis.
• Excavations at Brahmagiri by M. H. Krishna of the Mysore state Archaeological Department.

• Gisela M. A. Richter - Handbook of the Etruscan Collection (Metropolitan Museum of Art).

• September 12 - Lascaux caves. Painted c. 15,000 BC - 13,000 BC. Closed to the public in 1963.
• After ten-year expedition at Tanis, "Silver Pharaoh" tomb uncovered by Pierre Montet. It is the first ever intact tomb found.
• Ferriby Boat 2 discovered by Ted Wright.^[1]
• Balline Hoard in Ireland.

• October 14 - Ruth Tringham, Neolithic household and feminist archaeologist.^[2]

• February 26 - John Lamplugh Kirk, British archaeologist, collector and museum curator (b. 1869)
• April 25 - Wilhelm Dörpfeld, German archaeologist of Troy (b. 1853)^[3]
• June 27 - Harry Burton, English archaeological photographer, known for his photos of the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb (b. 1879).

• List of years in archaeology
• 1939 in archaeology
• 1941 in archaeology