Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Series
  3. Cambridge Library Collection - Archaeology

The discovery of material remains from the recent or the ancient past has always been a source of fascination, but the development of archaeology as an academic discipline which interpreted such finds is relatively recent. It was the work of Winckelmann at Pompeii in the 1760s which first revealed the potential of systematic excavation to scholars and the wider public. Pioneering figures of the nineteenth century such as Schliemann, Layard and Petrie transformed archaeology from a search for ancient artifacts, by means as crude as using gunpowder to break into a tomb, to a science which drew from a wide range of disciplines - ancient languages and literature, geology, chemistry, social history - to increase our understanding of human life and society in the remote past.

Refine search

Refine search

Content type:
Publication date:
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

150 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Archaeology

Page 4 of 8

Salaminia (Cyprus)
  • The History, Treasures, and Antiquities of Salamis in the Island of Cyprus
  • Alessandro Palma di Cesnola
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    12 March 2015
    First published in:
    1882
  • Alessandro Palma Di Cesnola (1839–1914) travelled to Cyprus in 1873 to take up an honorary post secured by his brother Luigi, who was the American consul there and also an amateur archaeologist. Obtaining funding from the British financier Edwin Lawrence, Alessandro carried out his own excavations, chiefly around Salamis. Replete with more than 700 illustrations, this 1882 publication records the most notable artefacts from the Lawrence–Cesnola collection, including gold jewellery, ivory objects, engraved gems, coins, and terracotta statuettes. The book sheds considerable light on the ancient Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek and Roman influences that shaped Cypriot art over the centuries. Di Cesnola's activities generated controversy, however, as he had flouted regulations in removing these artefacts. After the British Museum declined to acquire the whole collection, the bulk of it was sold at auction. His brother's finds were recorded in Cyprus: Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples (1877), which is also reissued in this series.

Celtic Britain
  • John Rhys
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    04 December 2014
    First published in:
    1882
  • First published in 1882, this clearly written account, accessible to non-specialists, is one of the principal works of the pioneering Celtic scholar Sir John Rhys (1840–1915). The son of a Welsh farmer and lead miner, Rhys went on to become the first professor of Celtic at the University of Oxford, principal of Jesus College, and a fellow of the British Academy. Knighted in 1907, Rhys had by then made significant contributions to the study of Celtic languages, travelling widely and examining many inscriptions at first hand. Here he covers Celtic etymology, ethnology and history in Britain from the time of Julius Caesar to the eleventh-century Scottish kingdoms. His Lectures on Welsh Philology (1877) and Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx (1901) are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. For the study of Celtic language, culture and mythology, the importance of Rhys's research is still acknowledged today.

Orchomenos
  • Bericht Über Meine Ausgrabungen im Böotischen Orchomenos
  • Heinrich Schliemann
  • Published online:
    05 January 2012
    Print publication:
    30 September 2010
    First published in:
    1881
  • In the winter of 1880–1881, the wealthy German businessman and self-taught archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890) embarked on a new project, to excavate the 'Treasury of Minyas' at Orchomenos. He was accompanied by his wife and by the distinguished Oxford Assyriologist A. H. Sayce. This book, published in 1881, begins with a vivid description of the journey from Athens to Orchomenos, through gorges and swamps, and across mountain passes. Schliemann mentions earlier attempts to excavate the 'treasury' (actually a Mycenaean beehive tomb), the difficulty of the terrain, and how he engaged over 100 local people to assist in the removal of earth and stones from a large area. He lists pottery, artefacts and stone implements, and gives detailed measurements of walls, towers and gates. The book includes drawings of sculpted decorations including rosettes and spirals, and the texts of classical Greek inscriptions found at Orchomenos and at nearby Copae.

Essays on Art and Archaeology
  • Charles Thomas Newton
  • Published online:
    05 November 2011
    Print publication:
    02 December 2010
    First published in:
    1880
  • Charles Thomas Newton (1816–1894) was a British archaeologist specialising in Greek and Roman artefacts. He studied at Christ Church, Oxford before joining the British Museum as an assistant in the Antiquities Department. Newton left the Museum in 1852 to explore the coasts and islands of Asia Minor. In 1856 he discovered the remains of the Mausoleum of Helicarnassus, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. He was appointed Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities in 1860 and remained in the position until 1880. First published in 1880, this volume is a compilation of lectures on archaeology and classical art which he delivered over the course of his career. They are arranged chronologically and cover topics as diverse as the study of archaeology, Greek sculptures and the arrangement of antiquities in the British Museum, providing valuable information on early methods of archaeology and the study of classical art.

Ilios

Ilios

The History of Esarhaddon (Son of Sennacherib) King of Assyria, B.C. 681–688
  • Translated from the Cuneiform Inscriptions upon Cylinders and Tablets in the British Museum Collection, Together with Original Texts
  • Translated by Ernest A. Budge
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 August 2010
    First published in:
    1880
  • Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (1857–1934) was a prominent English Egyptologist who was Keeper of the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum between 1893 and 1924. Although better known for his contributions to Egyptology, Budge was also a scholar of the ancient Assyrian language, which he first learnt in 1874. This book, first published in 1880, contains cuneiform inscriptions from artefacts in the British Museum, relating to the Assyrian king Esarhaddon (reigned c.681–669 BCE). They recount Esarhaddon's royal titles, describe his military campaigns in modern Iran and Egypt, and list the monumental buildings in Babylon rebuilt during his reign. Budge provides transliterations and English translations, a vocabulary, and a list of texts consulted. This was the first scholarly study of Esarhaddon, and some of Budge's translations proved controversial. The interest it aroused resulted in increased academic study and translation of cuneiform artefacts.

Ilios
  • The City and Country of the Trojans
  • Heinrich Schliemann
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    15 July 2010
    First published in:
    1880
  • Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890) was a businessman and self-taught archaeologist who is best known for discovering the site of the ancient city of Troy. First published in 1880, this volume contains an account of Schliemann's second excavation at Troy in 1878–1879 and places his earlier discoveries from the excavations of 1871–1873 in context with his more recent work. Schliemann provides a detailed description and the earliest interpretation of the seven settlement phases on the site, with over 1,000 illustrations showing details of the architecture he uncovered. He also describes his controversial methods of excavation, recounting some of the monumental buildings he destroyed to reach the earlier settlement phases of the city. Schliemann's discovery of Troy was met with great enthusiasm; it also created a furious debate over the validity of viewing classical epics as historical fact. This volume remains an important source for the historiography of archaeology.

Mycenae
  • A Narrative of Researches and Discoveries at Mycenae and Tiryns
  • Heinrich Schliemann
  • Preface by W. E. Gladstone
  • Published online:
    05 February 2015
    Print publication:
    15 July 2010
    First published in:
    1878
  • Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890) published Mycenae, an account of his archaeological excavations of the ancient Greek cities of Mycenae and Tiryns, in 1878. Schliemann's astonishing finds revealed that the cities had a historical reality outside Homeric epic. His excavations uncovered many priceless treasures, most famously the 'death mask of Agamemnon' and the shaft graves, filled with pottery, carved stones, skeletons, gold, jewellery and weaponry. He also uncovered much about the layout and architecture of the two lost cities. The volume is generously illustrated with images of artefacts, maps and charts. It is introduced by W. E. Gladstone, who gave Schliemann the political assistance necessary for the excavations to take place. Schliemann's discoveries were met with wild enthusiasm, and while today his methods of excavation are deplored and many of his conclusions thought to be ill-founded, he is rightly credited with the discovery of the lost and ancient Mycenaean civilisation.

Christian Inscriptions in the Irish Language
  • Chiefly Collected and Drawn by George Petrie
  • Volume 2
  • George Petrie
  • Edited by Margaret Stokes
  • Published online:
    05 September 2015
    Print publication:
    26 March 2015
    First published in:
    1878
  • George Petrie (1790–1866) grew up in Dublin, where he trained as an artist. He became fascinated by Irish antiquities and travelled around the country studying ancient sites while working for the Ordnance Survey of Ireland and the Royal Irish Academy. He won awards for his publications on art and architecture, including the influential The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, Anterior to the Anglo-Norman Invasion (1845), which is also reissued in this series. This collection of Irish-language inscriptions was edited after Petrie's death by Margaret Stokes (1832–1900), the archaeologist daughter of his friend William Stokes, and published in two volumes between 1872 and 1878. Volume 2 contains drawings of over 100 inscriptions from sites across Ireland, from Donegal to Kerry, and Antrim to Cork. Each is accompanied by notes on its subject, date, and linguistic features. The concluding essay gives an overview of the letter forms and decorative elements found in the inscriptions.

Discoveries at Ephesus
  • Including the Site and Remains of the Great Temple of Diana
  • John Turtle Wood
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 2015
    First published in:
    1877
  • In 1863, the English architect John Turtle Wood (1821–90) resigned from a railway development project in western Turkey to begin his search at Ephesus for the Temple of Artemis, lost from view since the middle ages. In the first part of this well-illustrated 1877 publication, Wood describes the city and the initial excavations carried out with support from the British Museum. This survey of various structures concludes with Wood's work at the great theatre, where he found the Greek inscription that helped direct him to the correct location of the temple in 1869. Part II focuses on the exhausting four years that Wood spent excavating the temple, which was buried under many layers of sand. The appendix presents Greek and Latin inscriptions, with facing-page translations, from various Ephesian sites. Also reissued in this series, Edward Falkener's Ephesus (1862) includes a review of references to the temple in ancient writings.

Cyprus: Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples
  • A Narrative of Researches and Excavations during Ten Years' Residence
  • Luigi Palma di Cesnola
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    12 March 2015
    First published in:
    1877
  • Born in Italy, Luigi Palma di Cesnola (1832–1904) settled in the United States and fought for the North in the American Civil War, becoming a cavalry colonel. Appointed by Abraham Lincoln, he then served as consul to Cyprus from 1865 to 1877. As an amateur archaeologist, he directed excavations throughout the island. In this 1877 publication, including maps and illustrations, Cesnola gives a useful sketch of Cypriot history and contemporary customs in addition to providing an important record of his archaeological practices and discoveries. He covers a number of ancient settlements where significant finds were made, notably Paphos, Amathus and Kourion. Many of the uncovered artefacts were controversially removed from Cyprus and sold to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art; Cesnola served as its first director. His brother Alessandro's Salaminia (1882), recording his own excavations and discoveries in Cyprus, is also reissued in this series.

The History of Babylonia
  • George Smith
  • Edited by Archibald H. Sayce
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    06 November 2014
    First published in:
    1877
  • The Assyriologist George Smith (1840–76) was trained originally as an engraver, but was enthralled by the discoveries of Layard and Rawlinson. He taught himself cuneiform script, and joined the British Museum as a 'repairer' of broken cuneiform tablets. Promotion followed, and after one of Smith's most significant discoveries among the material sent to the Museum - a Babylonian story of a great flood - he was sent to the Middle East, where he found more inscriptions which contained other parts of the epic tale of Gilgamesh. Before his early death in 1876, he was writing a history of Babylonia for the 'Ancient History from the Monuments' series. Prepared for press by A. H. Sayce, it was published in 1877. Smith traces the story of the Babylonian empire from mythical times ('before the deluge') to its conquest by Persia in the sixth century BCE. Several other books by Smith are also reissued in this series.

British Barrows
  • A Record of the Examination of Sepulchral Mounds in Various Parts of England
  • William Greenwell
  • Appendix by George Rolleston
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    20 November 2014
    First published in:
    1877
  • Although best known as an archaeologist, William Greenwell (1820–1918) was also ordained as a priest and served as librarian of Durham Cathedral. A keen angler into his later years, he is known too for his creation of 'Greenwell's glory', a famous British trout fly. As an archaeologist, Greenwell excavated nearly 300 burial mounds, carrying out intensive fieldwork from 1862. First published in 1877, this work is a detailed account of some 230 Bronze Age barrows across England, largely in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Organised by parish, this work records these excavations, giving dimensions and descriptions of their form and finds. Accompanying the survey are contributions by the respected Oxford physician and physiologist George Rolleston (1829–81) describing the skulls found in the barrows. Featuring many illustrations of the finds, including the skulls, the book also contains an appendix discussing prehistoric flora and fauna.

The Chaldean Account of Genesis
  • Containing the Description of the Creation, the Fall of Man, the Deluge, the Tower of Babel, the Desruction of Sodom, the Times of the Patriarchs, and Nimrod
  • George Smith
  • Edited by Archibald H. Sayce
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 2015
    First published in:
    1876
  • The Assyriologist George Smith (1840–76) was trained originally as an engraver, but was enthralled by the discoveries of Layard and Rawlinson. He taught himself cuneiform script, and joined the British Museum as a 'repairer' or matcher of broken cuneiform tablets. Promotion followed, and after one of Smith's most significant discoveries among the material sent to the Museum - a Babylonian story of a great flood - he was sent to the Middle East, where he found more inscriptions which contained other parts of the epic tale of Gilgamesh. In 1876, shortly before his early death, Smith published this work, which drew extraordinary parallels between much earlier cuneiform documents and the biblical book of Genesis. The book was both controversial and very successful. The second edition, reissued here, was published in 1880, with corrections and additional material provided by Archibald Sayce (1846–1933), which reflected recent advances in Middle Eastern studies.

Assyrian Discoveries
  • An Account of Explorations and Discoveries on the Site of Nineveh, during 1873 and 1874
  • George Smith
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    06 November 2014
    First published in:
    1875
  • The Assyriologist George Smith (1840–76) was trained originally as an engraver, but was enthralled by the discoveries of Layard and Rawlinson. He taught himself cuneiform script, and joined the British Museum as a 'repairer' or matcher of broken cuneiform tablets. Promotion followed, and after one of Smith's most significant discoveries among the material sent to the Museum - a Babylonian story of a great flood - he was sent to the Middle East, where he found more inscriptions which contained other parts of the epic tale of Gilgamesh. In this 1875 work, a bestseller in its day, Smith describes his expedition, the difficulties encountered, and the discoveries, including hundreds of inscriptions which increased knowledge of the Babylonian and Assyrian civilisations but also had a profound effect on traditional biblical studies. Smith died in Aleppo in 1876, having revolutionised understanding of the ancient Near East.

Assyria
  • From the Earliest Times to the Fall of Nineveh
  • George Smith
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    25 September 2014
    First published in:
    1875
  • The Assyriologist George Smith (1840–76) was trained originally as an engraver, but was enthralled by the discoveries of Layard and Rawlinson. He taught himself cuneiform script, and joined the British Museum as a 'repairer' of broken cuneiform tablets. Promotion followed, and after one of Smith's most significant discoveries among the material sent to the Museum - a Babylonian story of a great flood - he was sent to the Middle East, where he found more inscriptions which contained other parts of the epic tale of Gilgamesh. In 1875, he published a history of Assyria for the 'Ancient History from the Monuments' series. Using biblical accounts as well as the Akkadian documents in clay and stone then being excavated in the area, Smith traces the history of the Assyrian empire from its origins until the fall of Nineveh in 612 BCE. Several other books by Smith are also reissued in this series.

Troy and its Remains
  • A Narrative of Researches and Discoveries Made on the Site of Ilium, and in the Trojan Plain
  • Heinrich Schliemann
  • Translated by L. Dora Schmitz
  • Edited by Philip Smith
  • Published online:
    05 January 2015
    Print publication:
    19 August 2010
    First published in:
    1875
  • Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890) was a successful businessman and self-taught archaeologist who is best known for discovering the site of the ancient city of Troy. This work in English, 'translated by the author's sanction' in 1875, describes his excavations at the ancient mound of Hissarlik in Turkey, which revealed the remains of not just one but several substantial, superimposed ancient settlements, the earliest of which dates back to 4500 BCE. Schliemann himself was convinced that he had located Troy, and the spectacular golden treasure which he unearthed made his discovery famous around the world. However, the crudeness of his excavating techniques was criticised by contemporary archaeologists, and later work on the site has led to the conclusion that the treasure is in fact from a much earlier settlement than Homeric Troy. Schliemann's achievement was nevertheless extraordinary, and this first-hand account of his discoveries makes compelling reading.

Descrizione di Pompei
  • Giuseppe Fiorelli
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    22 August 2013
    First published in:
    1875
  • Imprisoned in 1849 for organising a Carbonari cell among the workers at Pompeii, numismatist and archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli (1823–96) was eventually appointed Director of Excavations, as well as Professor of Archaeology at Naples, in 1860. He introduced systematic excavation to the site and meticulous record-keeping, including the creation of a general map and a 1:100 model, as well as the use of plaster casts to capture the forms of ancient bodies. Published in 1875, as Fiorelli left Naples to take up the position of Director General of Italian Antiquities and Fine Arts, this guide, in Italian, gives a description of Pompeii ordered by region, insula, and building - a system devised by Fiorelli and still in use today. As such, the work illuminates the development of modern archaeological methods and the history of this remarkable site.

Trojanische Alterthümer
  • Bericht Über die Ausgrabungen in Troja
  • Heinrich Schliemann
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    19 August 2010
    First published in:
    1874
  • Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890) was a successful businessman and self-taught archaeologist who is best known for discovering the site of the ancient city of Troy. In this 1874 work, written in the style of a diary, Schliemann describes his excavations at Hissarlik in Turkey, which revealed the remains of not just one but several substantial, superimposed ancient settlements, the earliest of which dates back to 4500 BCE. Schliemann himself was convinced that he had located Troy, and the spectacular golden treasure which he unearthed made his discovery famous around the world. Although his excavating techniques were crude, and later work on the site has led to the conclusion that the treasure dates from a much earlier settlement than Homeric Troy, Schliemann's achievement was extraordinary and his account makes compelling reading. This book was translated into English in 1875 as Troy and Its Remains, also reissued in this series.

Page 4 of 8