who founded archaeology

Nabonidus, King

earliest examples of archaeology

Primarily, archaeologists have studied foundation deposits left by the Akkadian Empire's ruler Naram-Sin (c. 2200 BCE) in ancient Mesopotamia. The first archaeologist was king Nabonidus (c. 550 BCE).

Approximately 2200 BCE, King Nabonidus of the Akkadian Empire found and examined a foundation deposit in Ancient Mesopotamia. As a result, he is regarded as the first archaeologist. Not only did he oversee the initial excavations that unearthed the foundation deposits of the temples dedicated to the sun god Šamaš, the warrior goddess Anunitu (both in Sippar), and the moon god Naram-Sin built in Harran, but he also had them brought back to their original splendor.

In his quest to locate Naram-Sin's temple, he also made the first dating of an archaeological artifact.[15] Given the lack of precise dating technology at the time, his estimate—which was off by roughly 1,500 years—was still quite good.

Those who collect antiques

The older multidisciplinary field known as antiquarianism gave rise to the science of archaeology (from Greek ἀρχαιoλογία, archaiologia from ἀρχαῖος, arkhaios, "ancient" and -λογία, -logia, "-logy")[16]. When studying history, antiquarians paid close attention to historical sites and artifacts from antiquity. As summed up in the maxim "We speak from facts not theory" by 18th-century antiquary Sir Richard Colt Hoare, antiquarianism was concerned with the empirical evidence that was available for the understanding of the past. Early attempts were made in the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe during the Enlightenment to organize archaeology as a science.

Through the study, preservation, and analysis of ancient Chinese bronze inscriptions from the Shang and Zhou periods, individuals like Ouyang Xiu[18] and Zhao Mingcheng helped to establish the tradition of Chinese epigraphy in Imperial China during the Song dynasty (960–1279).[19][20] (p. 74)[21] (p. 95) Shen Kuo, in his book from 1088, chastised modern Chinese scholars for trying to restore ancient bronze vessels for ceremonial use without considering their original function and purpose of manufacture, and for attributing them to renowned sages rather than artisan commoners.[22] After the Song era, interest in antiquarian pursuits declined. However, they were resurrected in the 17th century during the Qing dynasty, but they were never regarded as an independent field of archaeology but rather as a branch of Chinese historiography.In Renaissance Europe, humanism in the late Middle Ages marked the beginning of philosophical interest in the remnants of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture.

Known by his contemporaries as pater antiquitatis ('father of antiquity,' today known as "father of classical archaeology"), Cyriacus of Ancona was a restless itinerant Italian humanist and antiquarian who came from a prominent family of merchants in Ancona, a maritime republic on the Adriatic: "Cyriac of Ancona was the most enterprising and prolific recorder of Greek and Roman antiquities, particularly inscriptions, in the fifteenth century, and the general accuracy of his records entitles him to be called the founding father of modern classical archeology."23] He explored the Parthenon, Delphi, the Egyptian pyramids, the hieroglyphics, and other ancient structures, statues, and inscriptions that he discovered while traveling throughout Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean.24] His six-volume Commentaria diary is where he recorded his archaeological discoveries.

Known as an early founder of archaeology, Flavio Biondo was an Italian Renaissance humanist historian who published a systematic guide to the topography and ruins of ancient Rome in the early 15th century.[25]

 

16th-century antiquarians such as John Leland and William Camden surveyed the English countryside, documenting, characterizing, and interpreting the monuments they came across.

The term "archaeologist" was initially used in 1824 by the OED and quickly became the standard term for one of the main areas of antiquarian activity. From 1607 onward, "archaeology" originally referred to what we would now refer to as "ancient history" in general; the more constrained modern meaning appeared in 1837. But in the preface of a collection of transcriptions of Roman inscriptions he had gathered over the years of his travels, entitled Miscellanea eruditae antiquitatis, Jacob Spon provided one of the first definitions of "archaeologia" to describe the study of antiquities in which he was engaged in 1685.

One of the earliest examples of archaeology is the writings of the Indian scholar Kalhana, who lived in the twelfth century. He documented local customs and examined manuscripts, inscriptions, coins, and architectural structures. Rajatarangini, one of his most well-known works, was finished around 1150 and is regarded as one of the first history books of India.

 

 

 

creation of the archaeological technique

Relics found during William Cunnington and Sir Richard Colt Hoare's 1808 excavation at Bush Barrow.

William Cunnington is regarded as the founder of archaeological excavation (1754–1810). Beginning in 1798, he conducted excavations in Wiltshire with funding from Sir Richard Colt Hoare [39]. Archaeologists still use Cunnington's precise descriptions and classifications of Neolithic and Bronze Age barrows because of his extensive documentation of these sites.

It should be noted, nevertheless, that in 1784, future US President Thomas Jefferson also went ahead and excavated multiple Native American burial mounds in Virginia using the trench method. The "Moundbuilders" question spurred him to conduct excavations, but his meticulous techniques gave him the insight to acknowledge that he could not see any reason why the mounds could not have been built by the ancestors of the modern Native Americans.

The invention of stratigraphy was one of the greatest contributions to archaeology in the 19th century. The concept of overlapping strata that date back to different eras was taken from recent paleontological and geological research by researchers such as Charles Lyell, James Hutton, and William Smith. The excavation of prehistoric and Bronze Age sites marked the beginning of the systematic application of stratigraphy to archaeology. Archaeologists such as Jacques Boucher de Perthes and Christian Jürgensen Thomsen started organizing the artifacts they had discovered chronologically in the third and fourth decades of the 1800s.

Augustus Pitt Rivers, an ethnologist and army officer, played a significant role in turning archaeology into a rigorous science. In the 1880s, he started excavating on his land in England. Considering the times, his methodology was extremely rigorous, and he is considered the pioneer of scientific archaeology. By type, or "typologically," and within types, by date, or "chronologically," he arranged his artifacts. For the purpose of accurately dating the objects, this arrangement style—which aimed to emphasize the evolutionary trends in human artifacts—was extremely important. The methodological innovation that stands out the most was his insistence on collecting and cataloging all artifacts, not just those that are beautiful or unique.

Flinders William Another man who has a right to be referred to as the Father of Archaeology is Petrie. Many of the concepts underlying contemporary archaeological recording were established by his meticulous study and recording of artifacts, first in Egypt and then in Palestine. He said, "I believe the true line of research lies in the noting and comparison of the smallest details." The method of dating layers that Petrie created using ceramic and pottery artifacts transformed the temporal foundation of Egyptology. In the 1880s, Petrie was the first to study the Great Pyramid in Egypt from a scientific perspective.[44] A whole generation of Egyptologists, including Howard Carter, who rose to fame after discovering the tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun in the 14th century BC, were also under his tutelage and instruction.

Heinrich Schliemann, Frank Calvert, and Wilhelm Dörpfeld's 1870s stratigraphic excavation at Hissarlik, the location of ancient Troy, was the first to gain widespread public favor. From prehistory to the Hellenistic era, these scholars identified nine distinct cities that had overlapped with one another.[45] Concurrently, the research conducted by Sir Arthur Evans at Knossos, Crete, demonstrated the prehistoric presence of a similarly sophisticated Minoan society. Sir Mortimer Wheeler was the next significant figure in the development of archaeology. His methodical coverage and extremely disciplined approach to excavation in the 1920s and 1930s accelerated the field's advancement. Wheeler created the excavation grid system, which Kathleen Kenyon, one of his students, later enhanced.

In the first part of the 20th century, archaeology emerged as a profession and was offered as a subject in colleges and even elementary schools. At least in developed nations, almost all professional archaeologists by the end of the 20th century were graduates. During this time, archaeology continued to adapt and innovate; urban and maritime archaeology became increasingly common, and rescue archaeology emerged as a result of growing commercial development.

Archaeology through experimentation

Main text: Archaeology through experimentation

The use of the experimental method to produce more carefully regulated observations of the processes that generate and influence the archaeological record is known as experimental archaeology.[94, 95, 96, 97, and 98] The experimental method became significant in the framework of processualism's logical positivism, which aimed to increase the scientific rigor of archaeological epistemologies. Enhancing the inferential frameworks for interpreting the archaeological record still requires the use of experimental techniques.

Archaeometry:

Principal article: Science of archaeology

To systematize archaeological measurement is the goal of archaeometry. The use of analytical methods from engineering, chemistry, and physics is emphasized. The definition of the chemical composition of archaeological remains for source analysis is a field of study that frequently focuses on this.[99] Using computer-based tools like geographic information system technology along with traditional methods like geodesy and space syntax techniques, archaeometry also examines various spatial characteristics of features.[100] Patterns with rare earth elements can also be employed.[101] Archaeological materials is a relatively new subfield that aims to improve knowledge of prehistoric and non-industrial culture by using scientific analysis to examine the composition and characteristics of materials linked to human activity.