The decade of the 1780s in archaeology involved some significant events.

[edit] Explorations

Detail of a relief from a Mayan ruin at Palenque drawn by Ricardo Almendáriz at the time of its original excavation in 1787

• 1786: Antonio Bernasconi and Colonel Antonio del Rio examine the ruins of Palenque, making the first map of the site and some crude excavations.

[edit] Excavations

• Formal excavations continue at Pompeii.

[edit] Finds

• Xagħra Stone Circle was first discovered in Malta

[edit] Publications

• 1785: Engineer Diego Ruiz visits and publishes first account of El Tajín.
• 1789: Saggio di lingua Etrusca by Luigi Lanzi.

[edit] Other events

• 1780: The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is formed.
• 1783: The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is incorporated.

[edit] Births

• 1783: June 13: Thomas Young
• 1784: Richard William Howard Vyse, British soldier, anthropologist and Egyptologist.
• 1787: March 28 - Claudius James Rich, English traveller and scholar.
• 1788: 10 September - Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes.

[edit] Deaths