1780s in archaeology
# 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.
* 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.
   * 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 - Philipp August Böckh, German classical scholar and antiquarian (d. 1867).
* 1786: December 11 - William John Bankes, English Member of Parliament, explorer and Egyptologist (d. 1855).
* 1787: March 28 - Claudius James Rich, English traveller and scholar (d. 1820).
* 1788: September 10 - Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes, French archaeologist (d. 1868)
* 1788: December 29 - Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, Danish archaeologist (d. 1865).

## Deaths

* 1788: James Stuart, Scottish archaeologist (b. 1713)
