Goods, Graves, and Scholars: 18th-Century Archaeologists in Britain and Italy

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. AbstractThe comments of a number of intellectuals who were interested in archaeology in the later 18th century show that they held widely disparate views regarding the ethics associated with excavation, and that they disagreed on what constituted proper archaeological techniques. Such views are known from surviving letters and from published works, the most influential of which was J.J. Winckelmann's Open Letter on the Discoveries of Herculaneum of 1762. Indeed it was particularly the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum that aroused public opinion; and although the reactions of some scholars, artists, and travelers are well known, this study examines new material, especially from the British perspective. A strong critic of the excavations was Sir William Hamilton, British envoy at the Court of Naples, whose own behavior, however, was sometimes inconsistent with the views he expressed to others. His opinions and his archaeological practices take on more meaning when related to those of his contemporaries in Britain and in Italy; for the ethical and technical questions raised by him were of vital concern also to members of the antiquarian societies in London and to other archaeologists and public figures of the 18th century.* Documents from the later 18th century with comments about archaeological excavations show that there was a much more heightened sensitivity to ethical and practical issues than has been generally recognized. Well-known figures such as Goethe, Winckelmann, and two successive kings of Naples took an active interest in this field, as did numerous members of the antiquarian societies in London. In this study of the documents, an interesting contrast of opinions will emerge regarding the quality of work at various excavations, particularly at Pompeii and Herculaneum, and regarding the rights of the public to view these excavations and the finds extracted from them. The documents also record questions of ethics, of Sir Harold Acton on His Eightieth Birthday (London 1984) 161-68; and C. Grell, Herculanum et Pompei dans les recits des voyageursfrancais du XVIIr siecle (Naples 1982) 33-44. 2 J.W. Goethe, The Italian Journey, trans. W.H. Auden and E. Mayer (New York 1962) 202. For a recent study of the topic, cf. F. Zevi, "Gli scavi di Ercolano," in Civiltd del '700 a Napoli 1734-1799 2 (Florence 1980) 58-68. Goethe (supra n. 2) 203 also complained that he had not been allowed to make drawings at the site. American Journal of Archaeology 96 (1992) 653 This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Fri, 12 Dec 2014 20:39:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 654 NANCY H. RAMAGE [AJA 96 If I had been permitted to copy from nature those curiosities that h...

Samuel Lysons and His Circle: Art, Science and the Remains of Roman Britain

“…(Hawkins to Lysons, November 22, 1815, Steer 1966 Lysons' and Hawkins' concern to ensure preservation and promote wider access puts them at the forefront of a growing movement asserting the importance of archaeological excavation and preservation of antiquities to be in the national interest, although this interest was to remain rather ad hoc until the latter part of the nineteenth century (Hoock 2010a: 209;Gaimster 2007: 201). Their efforts to publicize and generate resources in order to fund the preservation of the remains at Bignor, and their concern with displaying the mosaics to their best possible advantage, in context, were exceptional in the context of Romano-British archaeology, and indeed, in comparison with Classical archaeology on the Continent (See e.g., Ramage 1992;Parslow 1998: 199-232, on Winckelmann's view of the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum). The production of guidebooks and pamphlets for a wider audience, with a view to stimulating further interest in Romano-British remains, heralded the beginning of a new era; Romano-British archaeology in the nineteenth century was to develop in the hands of the educated middle classes and local archaeological societies (see Hoselitz 2007; Levine 1986).…”

“…The systematic approach adopted by Lysons, Hawkins, and their associates, which included the digging of trenches to expose strata and examine the relationships between features, the recording finds in context, and accurately measuring features and artefacts, was characteristic of only a small number of excavations in this period, most notably those of Colt Hoare and Cunnington, and was rare on the Continent (see e.g., Ramage 1992 and Hoock 2010a on indiscriminate looting of Italian art and antiquities). While evident, to some extent, in the work of contemporary local antiquarians such as Major Hayman Rooke, Thomas Pownall (1788) and others, the systematic way in which this approach was adopted at a number of sites associated with Lysons was certainly exemplary within the context of British archaeology during this period.…”