tour 1 of 15
Enlightenment: The Birth of Archaeology
Enlightenment: The Birth of Archaeology
In the eighteenth century, the people who collected and studied
the material remains of past societies called themselves
antiquaries. At first, antiquaries searched for objects that
related to the accounts of classical authors such as Livy. Roman
remains were easy to find and understand, but the written sources
could not explain other monuments, such as Stonehenge. Antiquaries
therefore had to search for other information about the people
living in Britain before the Romans arrived.
In order to understand the remains of the early Britons,
antiquaries developed new methods for collecting, studying and
classifying. They learnt to 'read' the landscape, to survey ancient
sites and to excavate them methodically. When this was combined
with the new science of stratigraphy and a growing understanding of
the age of the earth, archaeology was born.
This is one of a series of tours exploring the themes of the
British Museum gallery, Enlightenment: Discovering the
World in the Eighteenth Century.
Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund