1845 in archaeology
Encyclopedia
The year 1845 in archaeology involved some significant events.
Explorations
- E. G. Squier and E. H. Davis begin one of the first American scientific archaeological studies, exploring the remains of the prehistoric mound builders of Ohio, leading to the publication of the landmark Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi ValleyAncient Monuments of the Mississippi ValleyAncient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley by Americans Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis is a landmark in American scientific research, the study of the prehistoric Mound builders of North America, and the early development of archaeology...
three years later.
Excavations
- Austen Henry LayardAusten Henry LayardSir Austen Henry Layard GCB, PC was a British traveller, archaeologist, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, author, politician and diplomat, best known as the excavator of Nimrud.-Family:...
begins excavating the AssyriaAssyriaAssyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
n sites of NimrudNimrudNimrud is an ancient Assyrian city located south of Nineveh on the river Tigris in modern Ninawa Governorate Iraq. In ancient times the city was called Kalḫu. The Arabs called the city Nimrud after the Biblical Nimrod, a legendary hunting hero .The city covered an area of around . Ruins of the city...
and NinevehNinevehNineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
, lasting until 18511851 in archaeologyThe year 1851 in archaeology included many events, some of which are listed below.See also: other events of 1851-Publications:* J. Collingwood Bruce's The Roman Wall: a historical, topographical, and descriptive account of the barrier of the lower isthmus, extending from the Tyne to the Solway.*...
. - L. K. Ivanovsky begins excavating burial mounds near Novgorod, ending in 18921892 in archaeologyThe year 1892 in archaeology involved some significant events.-Miscellaneous:* Sir William Ridgeway is elected to the Disney Professorship of Archaeology in the University of Cambridge.-Births:...
. - Early excavation work at EphesusEphesusEphesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...
Finds
- Austen Henry LayardAusten Henry LayardSir Austen Henry Layard GCB, PC was a British traveller, archaeologist, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, author, politician and diplomat, best known as the excavator of Nimrud.-Family:...
finds first group of Nimrud ivoriesNimrud ivoriesThe Nimrud ivories are carved ivory plaques and figures dating from the 9th to the 7th centuries BC that were excavated from the Assyrian city of Nimrud during the 19th and 20th centuries. Many of the ivories were taken to the United Kingdom and were deposited in the British Museum...
. - Charles LyellCharles LyellSir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, Kt FRS was a British lawyer and the foremost geologist of his day. He is best known as the author of Principles of Geology, which popularised James Hutton's concepts of uniformitarianism – the idea that the earth was shaped by slow-moving forces still in operation...
in Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man (1863), reports that sometime around 1845 when the Rhine was blasted near Bingen am RheinBingen am RheinBingen am Rhein is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The settlement’s original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant “hole in the rock”, a description of the shoal behind the Mäuseturm, known as the Binger Loch. Bingen was the starting point for the...
to deepen and remove rocks, Roman-era iron weapons were dredged from the river bed. - The existence of the Lycurgus cupLycurgus cupThe Lycurgus Cup is a Roman glass cage cup now in the British Museum, made of a dichroic glass, which shows a different colour depending on whether or not light is passing through it; red when lit from behind and green when lit from in front...
, a piece of glassware demonstrating 4th century AD Roman technologyRoman technologyRoman technology is the engineering practice which supported Roman civilization and made the expansion of Roman commerce and Roman military possible over nearly a thousand years....
, is reported. - Viking-age hoard of English coins dating to around 927 found near Bangor CathedralBangor CathedralBangor Cathedral is an ancient place of Christian worship situated in Bangor, Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It is dedicated to its founder, Saint Deiniol....
in WalesWalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
Births
- March 20: Lucy Wright Mitchell
- June 16: Heinrich DresselHeinrich DresselHeinrich Dressel was a German archaeologist. He is best known for several books on Latin inscriptions, and he is the discoverer of the Duenos inscription, one of the oldest extant examples of Old Latin writing....
- August 25: Ernest VolkErnest VolkErnest Volk was a German-born archaeologist. Volk came to the United States in 1867, and worked for Frederic Ward Putnam of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology for two decades, helping to add to the collection through excavations of Trenton, New Jersey...