Below are notable events in archaeology that occurred in 1853.

Explorations

• Alexander Cunningham examines and describes the ruins at Harappa in the Punjab
• John Thurnam begins investigating tumuli around Knap Hill in Wiltshire, England

Excavations

Finds

• Hormuzd Rassam excavates the clay tablets which will be deciphered as Epic of Gilgamesh
• Winter 1853–54 – Archaeologist Ferdinand Keller identifies the remains of the Meilen–Rorenhaab site, first of the prehistoric pile dwellings around Lake Zurich to be located.^[1][2][3]

Births

• June 3 – Flinders Petrie, English Egyptologist (d. 1942)
• December 26 – Wilhelm Dörpfeld, German architect and archaeologist (d. 1940)^[4]

Deaths

• June 8 – Howard Vyse, English soldier and Egyptologist (b. 1784)
• Charles Masson, British explorer of Buddhist sites (b. 1800)