ARCHEOLOGY. iir'ke-ol'i\-j1 (Gk. cipxato /vita, arehaiologia, antiquarian lore, from dpxa os, urchaios, ancient + absor, /opus, science). The science of antiquities—that is, of the material remains of ancient peoples. But from the fact that in its origin and development it has been primarily and chiefly concerned with the ar tistic and architectural remnants of the Grveco Roman world, it is often taken to mean the science of Greek and Roman antiquities. in which sense the term will be used in this article, with out losing sight of the connection subsisting between these monuments and those of the more ancient peoples to whom they owe in great meas ure their inception.
As a science, archeology cannot justly he said to have existed before the last century, although the way had been gradually paved for it from the time of the Italian Renaissance. The pas sion for the artistic relics of Grtrco-Roman civili zation, which at the end of the Fifteenth Cen tury took such surprising hold upon the cultured classes of Italy under the Papal sway, led to the foundation of museums, in which were gathered statues of hronze and marble, vases, inscriptions, gems, jewelry, and coins, affording material for study and comparison. The spoils brought over from Greece by her Roman conquerors, and the mania for collecting treasures from the same source which had been displayed by many Ro man amateurs, as well as the great artistic and architectural activity in imperial Rome under the guidance of Greek masters, rendered that city a mine for the early a rclucologists; and, further more, much filtered in from Greece itself. (Cf. La neiani, ROHIC in thc Light of Recent Diseorcries, Boston and New York, 1889.) It must be admitted that these collectors were en thusiastic rather than scientific, and that the works of art discovered were ruthlessly restored to present a pleasing appearance, often at the complete sacrifice of accuracy. Heads and bodies of totally different style wire frequently joined in hybrid works which still mislead the unin formed.
The father of modern arch:is:logy is Johann Joachim W'inekelmann (1717-68) (q.v.). whose writings, although superseded in many points, are still of value, and who, by his genius. marked out the field since so successfully cultivated. He first liresented to European scholars an authentic account of the discoveries made in the Cam panian city of Ilerculanemn (q.v.), and, more than all, first wrote a systematic history of ancient art Vleschichte der Kunst des Alter thums.1764; yid. \Vinckelmnnn's eomplete works, edited by Meyer and Schulze, Dresden. 1808-20). By a passage in Winekelmann's writings. Les sing was stimulated to the composition of his great aesthetic essay. "Laoeoiin," and Goethe also was powerfully influenced by him. Thus the seed of the new science was planted. to develop after the era of the W11 l'S of the French Revolution. Like his predecessors, Winekelmann was able to know Greek art only through the copies of the Roman period, or the few originals of later times: but even through this haze he was able to distinguish some of the characteristics of the period, and his works prepared the way for the better appreciation of the discoveries of the early Nineteenth Century.
Napoleon's invasion of Egypt opened the treas ures of the Nile Valley to European scholars, and the discovery of the key to the hieroglyphic writing (q.v.) threw new light on the early his tory of the East. In Greece itself English schol ars were at this time doing what could be done under the Turkish regime. The chief result was the splendid work of Stuart and Revett, The An tiquities of Athens (4 vols., 1762-1816). The expedition sent out by the Society of Dilettanti to continue their work. accomplished but little. The true character of the art of the Fifth Century n.c. became clear when, in 1803-12, Lord Elgin
brought the sculptures of the Parthenon to Lon don. (See ELGIN MARBLES.) These,together with the reliefs from the temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassin, near Phigalia. in Arcadia, discovered in 1812, were subsequently acquired by the Brit ish Government, and form a most important part of the archreological treasures of the Brit ish Museum. In 1811 the same English and Ger man explorers who subsequently brought to light the Phigalian marbles discovered the remains of the remarkable pedimental groups of the temple on the island of ...Egints, which were imrehased by Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, and placed in the Glyptothek at Munich. (See A-E1:INETAN SCULP T URES. ) The successful termination of the Greek War of Independence (1821-29) opened anew mine from which something was immediately realized by the French exploration of the Morea (Pelo ponnesus) in 1829, which brought to the Louvre the first specimens of the Glympic s'eulptures. Soon after, the little temple of Athena Nike rose again on the Acropolis of Athens, rescued from the Turkish bastion which had been built of its stones. In Sicily the exploration of the many Greek sites led to the discovery of the early sculptures of Seliuns, while the systematic ex cavation of Pompeii (q.v.) brought to light the paintings and honsehold ornaments of the First Century. At about the same time, the discovery of the great necropolises of Etruria. especially that of Vulci, in 1828, not only opened the whole field of Etruscan art, and especially of mural painting, to study, but also added thousands of vases, Greek and Etruscan, to the material for reconstructing the life and thought of the past. The importance of the vases, not for art alone, but for the study of daily life and mythology, was at once recognized: but unfortunately the strict methods of scientific interpretation were not at first followed, and for many years the wildest subjectivity sought to find a whole system of mystic symbolism in these gifts to the dead. Fortunately, this has now been generally super seded by a careful study of the language and methods of the Greek potter. This growth of material made necessary some organization of the laborers in the new science, and the founda tion of the "Istituto di Corrispondenza Archeo logica," by Bunsen, Gerhard, the Duke of Luynes, and others, on December 9, 1828, was one of the most important steps in the history of arehreo logical progress. This institution, now the Im perial German Arela•ohtgiosa I Institute (Kaiser lich•Dentsehes Archiiologisches Institut), has, by its publications and by the training of young scholars, been of inestimable value. The French School of Archeology, established at. Athens in 1846, as well as the activity which began to be displayed by certain Greek savants under the Bavarian regime, had also an important influ ence on the development of our science. An im portant part in this development was played by the pupil: of F. A. Wolf, especially by A. Boeckh, whose aim was a complete reconstruction of ancient life, and who were therefore ready to welcome light from other sources than the liter ary monuments which had so long absorbed the attention of classical scholars. The discoveries of Layard at Nineveh (1845-46), and the subse quent decipherment of the cuneiform inscrip tions, revealed the ancient civilization of Assyria and Babylonia. and gave new material for a more accurate estimate of the relative position of Greek culture and art. We roust not omit to mention here the important addition made to the British Museum by the discoveries of Sir Charles Fellows in Lycia (1840), of Wood at Ephesus ( and of Newton at Branchidre, Hali carnassns (q.v.), and Cnidus (q.v.).