Who was the founder of archaeology? (Cyprian, 10)

Hello Cyprian,

To be perfectly honest, no one knows exactly who the founder of archaeology was… But we could say that archaeology started with antiquarians during the Middle Ages. It then flourished during the Renaissance (14th to 17th century CE) although it was very different from archaeology as we know it today! The antiquarians, even later into the 18th and 19th century did not usually employ scientific methods and they were mostly digging to find treasure.

The birth of modern archaeology is attributed to Augustus Pitt Rivers (1827-1900) who started using new methodologies and used written evidence to record his discoveries. He also used typology (classifying objects according to how they evolved so that sites could be dated more accurately).

Now though, some people also say the very first archaeologist was a Babylonian king called Nabonidus! He lived in the 6th century BCE and excavated a temple in Sippar (in modern day Iraq). He described when, as he was rebuilding the temple, he came across much older ruins and this is the first account ever found of someone who practised archaeology.

So as you can see, identifying the founder of archaeology is not easy, and I like to think that the practice was developed by many people, during many, many years!

Odile, March 2026