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

Abstract

The 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.