Archeology is one of the most amazing and fascinating professions on Earth, at the same time requiring a lot of diligence, patience, determination, and, no matter how corny, certain luck.
Even in ancient Greece, the term "archeology" meant all antiquity. After the discovery of Pompeii in the middle of the XVIII century, the fashion for everything old began, and haphazard excavations began, which were aimed only at extracting valuable artifacts from the earth, and only at the end of the XIX century archeology established itself as a historical scientific discipline to which thebiggest. ru has special feelings.
Our story is about very enthusiastic, purposeful people, some of whom were sometimes far from historical science, but went down in history as the most famous archaeologists in the world.
1
Jean-Francois Champollion
But we will begin the story not with an archaeologist at all, but with a person without whom many archaeological discoveries would have been impossible.
His name is Jean-Francois Champollion, an orientalist and founder of Egyptology. In 1822, it was he who managed to read the inscriptions on the Rosetta stone.
The stone was discovered during the Egyptian campaign of Napoleon in 1799 by the French officer Pierre-Francois Bouchard. Three texts were carved on it, which, after 23 years, was deciphered by Jean-Francois, greatly advancing historical science.
2
Johann Ludwig Burkhardt
Perhaps the Swiss orientalist can rightfully be considered the first professional archaeologist. Even in his early youth, he had a burning desire to find the origins of the Niger River, and in 1809 he would go to the East.
Having studied the Arabic language and thoroughly knowing the Quran, he easily mastered among the local population. Exploring the East, Johann discovered Peter, the greatest monument of archeology, and a symbol of modern Jordan.
For the scientist himself, this was only a single moment in a series of his discoveries from the history, culture, geography of the East. And now Petra is on the list of the cultural heritage of Mankind.
3
Paul Emile Botta
The Frenchman Emile received an excellent education, became a certified doctor and diplomat, and in 1840 he was appointed French consul to the city of Mosul.
While still at home, he showed a not inconsistent propensity for history, and, together with his appointment, receives from the French authorities an unspoken order, no less, to find Nineveh.
The first excavations of the hills near Mosul did not bring results, but, already a desperate young man, he moved the excavations 20 kilometers from the first to Khorsabad. Under the first bayonets of the shovel, walls lined with slabs appeared. Bott hastened to report that he had found Nineveh, but this was not so. He discovered the world no less magnificent capital of King Sargon II Dur-Sharrukin.
4
Austin Henry Layard
The Englishman Austin Layard corrected the Frenchman’s mistake, with all his heart he was passionately in love with the East and its ancient history.
He fled to Aleppo at the age of 23 from foggy London, from dry textbooks and dusty archives to real archeological sites. Moving to his dream, he single-handedly made a difficult journey through the sultry desert from Aleppo to Mosul.
In the spring of 1842, he obtained from Turkish officials expansion into archaeological work, and having hired local diggers, he began work on a hill where Emil Botha had not found anything until recently. After several days of work, a huge human head with the body of a lion appeared from the earth, and the world learned about the discovery of the mysterious Nineveh.
5
Heinrich Schliemann
As a child, his father gave little Henry the works of Homer, telling about the events of the Trojan War. The boy passionately loved the heroes of the ancient author, and firmly decided to find the legendary Troy.
But the path to the dream, full of victories and disappointments, sorrows and joys, took a long 40 years. Only in 1870, the 46-year-old Schliemann was able to begin excavations on the Gissarlyk hill.
The treasured Troy was found, and the finds of an amateur archaeologist amazed the whole world. Scientists later proved that Schliemann cut nine cultural layers of different eras, and simply slipped through the layer of Troy. But this does not beg his discovery.
6
Arthur Evans
Following Schliemann, the English archaeologist Arthur Evans believed ancient Greek myths and legends, and when the German found Troy, Evans no longer doubted the veracity of the myth of the labyrinth of the Minotaur.
In 1898, he petitioned to begin excavations on the island of Crete. Before that, he had already visited the island twice, in order to discover the traces of ancient civilizations.
After two years of preparation, in March 1900, Evans, hiring 32 diggers, begins excavation. By 1905, the Palace of Knossos of King Minos was practically explored, and Evans became famous throughout the world.
7
Marcelino Sens de Sautuola
A worthy place in this series of glorious inhabitants of the Earth is a Spanish lawyer and amateur archaeologist Marcelino de Sautuola.
Once he acquired land, and one of the hunters told him the story of the finds near the entrance to one of the caves of amazing things. In 1875, Marcelino began exploring a mysterious cave, having really discovered Paleolithic tools in it.
In 1879, he took his 9-year-old daughter Maria with him to the cave, and it was she who discovered the drawings left by an ancient man on the waters of Altamira. Marcelino Sautuole was not believed, he died when he was considered a deceiver. The scientific community later apologized to the daughter of the scientist for the mistake.
8
Heinrich Bruening
Far from archeology, a German engineer and ethnographer went down in history as the discoverer of an amazing and unique monument in the Peruvian valley of Lambayeque, Tucum County.
Giant and magnificent pyramids were discovered by chance by black diggers hunting for countless Inca treasures. Heinrich was in Peru at that time, and he heard a rumor about the find.
In 1894, the German became the first to conduct a systematic study of the valley of the pyramids. And from more than 250 objects, identified pyramids of natural origin and those that were created by people. He also accurately determined the time of the origin of the monument.
9
Boris Farmakovsky
When the French and English set off far from their homeland to explore ancient civilizations, Boris Farmakovsky in 1919 begins his research of the ancient city-state in the south of Russia, Olbia.
Yes, he did not discover Olbia, which was known in the XVII century. But he became the first to stop the predatory excavations of the ancient city, and began his focused research.
Another merit of the great archaeologist is that it was he who laid the foundations of the archaeological research methodology, which is still used all over the world.
10
Hyrum Bingham
In Honolulu, a boy was born into the family of hereditary Christian missionaries, who was named Hyrum. But the boy did not follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, a missionary, and in 1905 received a doctorate in history.
Adventurous, the young man goes to Latin America, where he visited the ancient city of the Indians Chokequirao. Upon returning home, he published a large scientific work, and the leadership of Yale University, having equipped an expedition to Peru to search for the ancient Inca cities, offered to lead it to Bingham.
A previously unknown city was found on top of one of the mountains. July 24, 1911 Hyrum and members of his expedition entered the legendary Machu Picchu. Hyrum Bingham is believed to have become the prototype for the Indiana Jones movie character.
11
Howard Carter
Like many archaeologists before and after him, the English archaeologist Howard Carter has come a long and difficult path to discovering his whole life.
The young man beautifully and professionally painted, and he was also selflessly in love with history. He had a lucky chance, and in 1891 he went to Egypt as a draftsman.
In 1906, he met Lord Carnarvon and began independent excavations. Colleagues who believe that they already found everything in Egypt laughed at Carter when in 1917 he began excavations in the Valley of the Kings. But the Englishman was faithful to himself and on November 26, 1926 entered the tomb of Tutankhamun.
12
Boris Mozolevsky
After leaving school, Boris entered the military flight school, but, without finishing it, threw it. He worked a little as a fireman ... But probably, fate was preparing the guy for something else, and he found himself in archeology.
After graduating from the Faculty of History of Kiev State University, Mozolevsky begins to closely study the Scythian-Sarmatian period, works as an editor of the popular in the USSR journal Naukova Dumka.
And now, not without some luck, in 1971, when exploring the Tolstaya grave mound in the Dnipropetrovsk region, at that time already a well-known archaeologist, found the famous breast ornament - Scythian pectoral.
13
Louis and Marie Leakey
Kenyan anthropologists and archaeologists of British descent Luis and Marie in the early 1930s began paleontological studies of the oldest deposits in the Olduvai Gorge, which is located in Tanzania.
After many years of work, in 1962, their expedition found the remains of ancient hominids. Anthropologists have suggested that the bones belong to a skilled man who lived on the earth about 1, 9 million years BC. Laboratory studies have confirmed the hunch of scientists.
Also, a magnificent family found the remains of the first hominids. They pushed the history of mankind to the frontier 4.5 million years ago.
14
Natalya Polosmak
Along with Marie Leakey, we will pay tribute to another woman archaeologist, researcher at the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Natalia Polosmak.
It was under her leadership that the archaeological expedition discovered and explored in 1993 on the border with Mongolia the now famous “Princess of Altai”, the whole world.
Archaeologists unearthed a barrow of the Scythian era, when a mummified body of a woman was discovered in the burial chamber. Journalists called her Ukok, and in local beliefs she is called Ak-Kadyn. The discovery of the Russian scientist made a significant contribution to the development of science and provided new, unique material for studying the history of Altai.
As we see, the discoveries of famous archaeologists changed the idea of the past of mankind, and also confirmed some hypotheses. It remains only to bow to the courage and determination of these people who, overcoming any difficulties, confidently went to their dream.
Many artefacts that the archaeologists we presented have found and are found by modern “adventurers” later hide under the glass of museums with the inscription “Do not touch it with your hands!”, But each such thing has its own story, its own legend, its own life.
Article author: Valery Skiba