History of Archaeology

Question: Where did archaeology originate?
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Interesting question.

 Early archaeological endeavours were prompted by curiosity or treasure seeking, without the benefits of scientific method. It could be argued that in Europe the first impulse towards methodical historical exploration came with the Italian Renaissance, which saw a revived interest in the texts and artifacts of the Classical past and produced a neo-classical revival in the arts and architecture. The early 15th Century scholar Ciriaco Pizzecolli (1391-1453) recorded his findings on ancient artifacts and buildings during his travels around the Mediterranean and is sometimes known as the ‘father of archaeology’.

 The influence of the Renaissance spread to other parts of Europe, and with it the awakening of scientific curiosity and fascination with the past. In England, for example, interest in ancient sites had been in evidence at least as far back as the Middle Ages, quite often in association with local myth and legend. But in the 16th Century a new spirit of scientific enquiry was personified in such eminent polymaths as Dr John Dee (1527-1608) and Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626). Within the limits of existing knowledge and technology the ground had been laid for a methodical approach to archaeology.

 The iconic site of Stonehenge figures largely in early explorations, with excavations carried out in the early 1600s by the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, Dr William Harvey (1578-1657) and the architect Inigo Jones (1573-1652). The English antiquarian and writer John Aubrey (1626-1697), who left an unfinished two volume collection of ‘Wiltshire Antiquities’, was one of the first to produce a plan of Stonehenge, in 1666, and discovered and named the ‘Aubrey Holes’. Interest in Stonehenge and the surrounding sites continued, but the most prominent figure was William Stukeley (1687-1765) who conducted serious fieldwork at Stonehenge, producing his first detailed plans in an unpublished manuscript of 1724 and his principal accounts of Stonehenge and Avebury in 1740-1743. His 1724 manuscript has recently been published in a facsimile edition: ‘Stukeley's Stonehenge, 1721-1724’ edited by Aubrey Burl and Neil Mortimer.

 By the middle of the 18th Century, on the cusp of the Enlightenment, similar investigations into the prehistoric past were under way elsewhere in the UK, mostly by enthusiastic amateurs. In many cases the mutilation of archaeological sites far outweighed the knowledge gained. But it has to be acknowledged that such early excavations were, perhaps, a necessary first step towards the development of the discipline. At the same time, and less usefully, prehistoric sites provided a blank sheet for fantastic speculation that confused time periods or served to buttress the wishful thinking of fervid imaginations. Even today, prehistory seems to be regarded as fair game for plausible constructs, unsupported by hard evidence!

 The 19th Century saw the beginnings of the modern scientific approach to historical and archaeological research, not least through the work of German scholars. Even so, archaeological method was still in its infancy and amateurs outnumbered the practitioners of an emerging profession. But it was mainly these amateurs, often accomplished self-publicists, who created the momentum for what followed through romantic accounts of adventure and discovery. Most notable was Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) who, with ‘a copy of Homer in one hand and a spade in the other’ claimed discovery of Troy at a site that had been under excavation by the British archaeologist Frank Calvert for some 20 years. Schliemann went on to excavate at Mycenae, discovering among other things a magnificent gold ‘Mask of Agamemnon’. Some of Schliemann’s claims were not particularly well founded and he left damage enough to make subsequent archaeology problematic, but his work captured the imagination of the world and stimulated new generations of archaeologists. After Schliemann, archaeology entered its high period which has continued down to the present day.

 This is, necessarily, a very brief summary of the development of archaeology. For more on 19th and early 20th Century archaeology you might like to follow up on Henry Rawlinson, Austen Henry Layard and Leonard Woolley in the context of Mesopotomia; Howard Carter (the tomb of Tutankhamen), and Flinders Petrie in Egypt; and Arthur Evans, who excavated the ‘Palace of Minos’ at Knossos. A range of relevant titles is available from the Ancient World and Prehistory pages of the History Unlimited Bookshop.

 My personal interest in archaeology was stimulated by two books which I was fortunate enough to stumble across in my youth. The first was ‘Gods, Graves and Scholars’ by CW Ceram, which has classic accounts of some of the most important digs in the history of archaeology. The second was ‘Voices in Stone’ by Ernst Doblhofer, which is an equally fascinating account of the decipherment of ancient texts and languages.