Archaeology Timeline

First scientific archaeological excavations attributed to US President Thomas Jefferson.

C. J. Thomsen of the Danish National Museum first uses the Three-Age System of Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age to organise its collection.

Champollion announces decipherment of hieroglyphic writing.

First excavations begun at Clava Cairns.

Ongoing excavations at Clava Cairns.

Excavations are ongoing at the Skara Brae site.

Frank Calvert, then Heinrich Schliemann beginning in 1871 CE, excavate at the site of ancient Troy.

Heinrich Schliemann begins excavating at Mycenae.

Sir Arthur Evans excavates at Crete, discovering the palace at Knossos and naming the civilization "Minoan".

The Ishtar Gate excavation is underway and lead by Robert Koldewey.

Skara Brae site is plundered by unknown parties.

English archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley excavates at Ur (in modern-day Iraq).

English archaeologist Howard Carter discovers the tomb of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Professional excavation and preservation efforts begin at Skara Brae under V. G. Childe and J.W. Paterson.

The reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate is completed at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany.

Beginnings of processual archaeology, a scientific approach to questions and designing of models to suggest answers and test theories, in the US.

The Sweet Track found during peat excavations, Somerset, Britain.

Lindow Man discovered at Lindow Moss, a peat bog in Cheshire, England.