1780s in archaeology

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

Explorations

• 1786: Antonio Bernasconi and Colonel Antonio del Rio examine the ruins of Palenque, making the first map of the site and some crude excavations.

Excavations

• 1786: Excavation of a Roman villa near Warminster in England by antiquarian Catherine Downes.^[1]
• 1788: Excavations of Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter) in England by civil engineer Thomas Telford.
• Formal excavations continue at Pompeii.

Finds

• 1780
  • Tomb of the Scipios rediscovered in Rome.^[2]
  • Discobolus Palombara discovered in Rome.
• 1781: Roman coin hoards found in England near Eye, Suffolk (approximate date) and Stanmore, near London.
• 1782: Tomb of Catherine Parr (d. 1548) rediscovered in Sudeley Castle, England.
• 1786: Gold thumb ring of Senicianus discovered near Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) in England.
• 1789: The Stony Stratford Hoard uncovered in England.
• Xagħra Stone Circle first discovered in Malta.

Publications

• 1785: Engineer Diego Ruiz visits and publishes the first account of El Tajín.
• 1789: Saggio di lingua Etrusca by Luigi Lanzi.

Other events

• 1780: December 18 - The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is formed.
• 1783: The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is incorporated.

Births

• 1784: July 25 -
  Richard William Howard Vyse, English soldier, anthropologist and Egyptologist (d. 1853
  ).
• 1785: November 24 -
  classical scholar and antiquarian (d. 1867
  ).
• 1786: December 11 - William John Bankes, English Member of Parliament, explorer and Egyptologist (d. 1855).^[3]
• 1787: March 28 -
  Claudius James Rich, English traveller and scholar (d. 1820
  ).
• 1788: September 10 -
  archaeologist (d. 1868
  )
• 1788: December 29 - Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, Danish archaeologist (d. 1865).

Deaths

• 1788:
  1713)^[4]