1838 in archaeology

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

Below are notable events in archaeology that occurred in 1839.

Explorations

• August 31 - Scottish-born scene painter David Roberts sets sail for Egypt (with the encouragement of J. M. W. Turner) to produce a series of drawings of the region for use as the basis for paintings and chromolithographs, later published in The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia
• John Shae Perring, a British engineer working under Colonel Howard Vyse, ^[1] clears the entrances to the pyramids of Sahure, Neferirkare and Nyuserre in Egypt. ^[2]
• French orientalist painters Antoine-Alphonse Montfort and François Lehoux  [ fr ] visit and paint the Roman temple of Bziza.

Finds

• The 5th century BC bronze Chatsworth Head (found on Cyprus in 1836) is acquired by the 6th Duke of Devonshire at Smyrna from H. P. Borrell. ^[3]
• Etruscan statuettes found in Lake of the Idols.
• Victoria Cave near Settle, North Yorkshire in England, containing Paleolithic remains, is discovered. ^[4]
• Winter 1837/38 - The Neolithic settlement of Rinyo on Rousay in Orkney (Scotland) is discovered.
• c. January - Remains of a Roman villa are found near Bath, Somerset, England during construction of the Great Western Railway and recorded with artefacts being preserved. ^[5]

Publications

• Rifa'a el-Tahtawi publishes The History of Ancient Egyptians.
• Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes publishes the first part of De La Création, Essai sur L'Origine et la Progression des Êtres.
• Jean-Frédéric Waldeck publishes the first detailed account of the Maya ruins of Uxmal.

Deaths

• March 12 - Richard Polwhele, Cornish antiquarian (b. 1760).
• May 19 - Sir Richard Colt Hoare, English archaeologist (b. 1758). ^[6]

References

1. Lehner, Mark (2008). The Complete Pyramids. New York; London: Thames & Hudson. p. 50. ISBN   978-0-500-28547-3.
2. Edwards, Iorwerth (1999). "Abusir". In Bard, Kathryn (ed.). Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt . London; New York: Routledge. p. 97. ISBN   978-0-203-98283-9.
3. Wace, A. J. B. (1938). "The Chatsworth Head". The Journal of Hellenic Studies . 58 (1): 90–95. doi:10.2307/626437. JSTOR   626437. S2CID   162702082.
4. "Palaeolithic Yorkshire – Victoria Cave". Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
5. Bryan, Tim (2023). Iron, Stone and Steam: Brunel's Railway Empire. Stroud: Amberley. p. 134. ISBN   978-1-3981-1269-8.
6. "Sir Richard Colt Hoare 1758–1838". tate.org. Retrieved 9 June 2017.