Below are notable events in archaeology that occurred in 1946.

• Maria Reiche begins to map the Nazca Lines.
• Mikhail Mikhaylovich Gerasimov investigates the burial site of Yuri Dolgorukiy (d. 1157) at the Church of the Saviour at Berestove in Ukraine but no remains are found.

• Ferriby Boats 1 and 2 excavated in England.
• Three-year excavation of Eridu by Fuad Safar and Seton Lloyd of the Iraqi Directorate General of Antiquities and Heritage begins.

• November - Agatha Christie Mallowan, Come, Tell Me How You Live.

• Lacandon Maya lead photographer/explorer Giles Healey to Bonampak, the first time it is known to have been visited by a non-Mayan.
• Filitosa, Corsica, discovered.

• July 1 - Mick Aston, English archaeologist best known for his work on Time Team (died 2013)^[1]
• August 12 - Bryony Coles, née Orme, English prehistoric landscape archaeologist
• December 29 - Ruth Shady, Peruvian archaeologist

• November 17 - Max von Oppenheim, German Near Eastern archaeologist (born 1860)