1780s in archaeology

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

Explorations

Detail of a relief from a Mayan ruin at Palenque drawn by Ricardo Almendáriz at the time of its original excavation in 1787

• 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 Katherine 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

• 1780: March 14 – Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre, Spanish-born military engineer and pioneer Classical archaeologist (b. 1702)
• 1788: February 2 – James "Athenian" Stuart, Scottish architect and archaeologist (b. 1713)