Below are notable events in archaeology that occurred in 1888.

• Chaco Canyon is surveyed and photographed by Victor and Cosmos Mindeleff of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
• Heinrich Schliemann attempts to locate the tomb of Alexander the Great in Alexandria, but is denied permission to excavate.^[1]

• May 22 - Augustus Pitt Rivers begins excavation of Bokerly Dyke.^[2]
• Excavations of Hawara in Egypt by Flinders Petrie, finds including papyri containing parts of Homer's Iliad (the "Hawara Homer"), and the Fayum mummy portraits.
• Excavations of Nippur sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania begin (continues through 1900).
• Excavations of the Cadmea (Καδμεία, citadel) in Thebes, Greece, by the German Archaeological Institute at Athens begin.^[3]
• Carl Humann directs new excavations in Sam'al and a trial excavation in Tralles (modern Aydın).

• December 18 - Discovery of three villages by Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law Charlie Mason while tracking stray cattle: Cliff Palace, Spruce Tree House, and Square Tower House; now part of Mesa Verde National Park.
• Llantwit Major Roman Villa.
• The Mourning Athena relief is found near the Acropolis of Athens.

• American Anthropologist journal is founded.
• Archibald Sayce, The Hittites: The Story of a Forgotten Empire.

• January 13 - National Geographic Society formed in the United States.^[4]

• February 1 - Gertrude Caton Thompson, English archaeologist of Africa (d. 1985)^[5]
• August 16 - T. E. Lawrence, British archaeologist of the Middle East, military officer, diplomat and author (d. 1935)^[6]
• October 6 - Birger Nerman, Swedish archaeologist (d. 1971)

• March 10 - Lucy Wright Mitchell, American archaeologist (b. 1845)^[7]