The year 1821 in archaeology involved some significant events.

Explorations

• October - John Gardner Wilkinson begins a twelve-year stay in Egypt, surveying historical sites.

Excavations

Publications

Finds

• 'Gallagh Man', an Iron Age bog body, is found in County Galway, Ireland.^[1]

Awards

Miscellaneous

• "Egyptian Hall" in London displays artifacts from Ancient Egypt brought to the United Kingdom by Giovanni Battista Belzoni. The Philae obelisk is landed in England in December.
• While not specifically the year 1821, this time period is when one of the most significant categorical discoveries of archaeology was named. Christian Thomsen, a Danish archaeologist, developed the three age system to date objects in museums. These three ages were the "Stone Age," "Bronze Age," and "Iron Age."
• While not specifically the year 1821, this time period is when one of the most significant findings regarding time and dating archaeological findings was discovered. Boucher de Perthes established a much deeper sense of time than what James Usher had previously established. Perthes determined that the world was significantly older than 4004 BC and thus gave archaeology a deeper, more realistic time frame to work with.

Births

• June 21, 1821- The birth of Ephraim George Squier, co-author of "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley" along with Edwin Hamilton Davis. ^[2]

Deaths