1790s in archaeology explained

1780s ^. 1790s in archaeology ^. 1800s
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The decade of the 1790s in archaeology involved some significant events.

Explorations

• 1799: Napoleon in Egypt: French troops occupy Egyptian territory. Tomb KV20 in the Valley of the Kings is located.

Excavations

• 1794–96: Roman tessellated pavements found at Frampton, Dorset, depicting one of the earliest known Christian symbols in England.^[1]
• 1796: The Roman fort, vicus, bridge abutments and associated remains of Hadrian's Wall are excavated at Chesters, in England.
• 1798: The first recorded excavations at Stonehenge are made by William Cunnington and Richard Colt Hoare.
• Formal excavations continue at Pompeii.

Finds

• 1790
  • Pediment of the Roman temple at Bath, England, is discovered during work near the Roman Baths.^[2]
  • Townley Discobolus and Lansdowne Heracles are discovered at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, Italy.
  • Bones presumed to be those of English poet John Milton (d. 1674) are disinterred during repairs to the church of St Giles-without-Cripplegate in London.^[3]
• 1796: Summer - Ribchester Hoard and helmet found in Lancashire, England.
• 1797: July 17 - The tomb of John, King of England (d. 1216), is rediscovered at Worcester Cathedral in front of the altar.^[5]
• 1799: July 15 - At the town of Rosetta (Rashid), a harbor on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, French troops find the Rosetta Stone, inscribed with parallel texts in Greek, Egyptian demotic and hieroglyphs (translated in 1822 by Jean-François Champollion).

Publications

• 1793: James Douglas - Nenia Britannica, or, A Sepulchral History of Great Britain, from the earliest period to its general conversion to Christianity (published complete), the first account of the excavation of an Anglo-Saxon site (in Kent)^[6] with artefacts systematically described and illustrated.^[7]
• 1797: James Hutton, a Scotsman who has been called "the Father of Geology," publishes theories describing the earth as destroying and renewing itself in a never-ending cycle.
• 1799: Vice President of the United States Thomas Jefferson, writing in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 4, describes the bones of Megalonyx jeffersonii, an extinct ground sloth.

Other events

• 1797: January 3 - Three of the stones making up Stonehenge fall due to heavy frosts.
• 1798: December 10 - Some antiquities being shipped to England by Sir William Hamilton are lost in the wreck of HMS Colossus.

Births

• 1790: December 22 - Jean-François Champollion, French decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs (d. 1832)^[8]
• 1793: January 22 - Caspar Reuvens, founder of Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (Netherlands National Museum of Antiquities), first professor of archaeology (d. 1835)
• 1794: July 7 - Frances Stackhouse Acton, née Knight, English botanist, archaeologist, artist and writer (d. 1881)
• 1796: November 27 - John MacEnery, Irish-born priest and pioneer archaeologist (d. 1841)
• 1797: October 5 - John Gardiner Wilkinson, English traveller, writer and pioneer Egyptologist (d. 1875)^[9]
• 1798: Approximate date - Kyriakos Pittakis, Greek archaeologist (d. 1863)
• 1799: December 12 (23) - Karl Bryullov, Russian painter of The Last Day of Pompeii (d. 1852)

Deaths

• 1795: April 30 - Jean-Jacques Barthélemy French writer and numismatist (b. 1716)^[10]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Historic England research records. Frampton. Historic England. Heritage Gateway. 2024-07-01. 2012.
2. Web site: Key objects of the collection. 24 October 2014. Roman Baths. Bath. 2016-07-27.
3. History Today. December 2018. 68. 12. 23.
4. Allen Walker. Read. The Disinterment of Milton's Remains. Publications of the Modern Language Association of America. 45. 1930. 4. 1050–68. 10.2307/457826. 457826. 163450400 .
   • • December 17 - The late post-classic Mexica Aztec sun stone is discovered during repairs to Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral.^[3]
5. Web site: Account about opening King John's tomb. The British Library. 8 June 2017. en.
6. Book: Webster, Leslie. Leslie E. Webster. Anglo-Saxon England AD 400 - 1100. Longworth, Ian. Cherry, John. Archaeology in Britain since 1945. London. British Museum. 1986. 0-7141-2035-9. 121. registration.
7. Book: Royal Academy of Arts. Royal Academy of Arts. Making History: Antiquarians in Britain 1707-2007. London. 2007. 99.
8. Web site: BBC - History - Jean-François Champollion. BBC. 17 May 2017.
9. Book: Bierbrier. Morris L.. Historical Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. 2008. Scarecrow Press. 9780810862500. 257. en.
10. Web site: Jean-Jacques Barthelemy - French archaeologist. Encyclopedia Britannica. 17 May 2017. en.