The decade of the1790s in archaeology involved some significant events.

• 1799:Napoleon inEgypt: French troops occupy Egyptian territory. TombKV20 in theValley of the Kings is located.

• 1794–96: Romantessellated pavements found atFrampton, Dorset, depicting one of the earliest known Christian symbols inEngland.^[1]
• 1796: The Roman fort, vicus, bridge abutments and associated remains ofHadrian's Wall are excavated atChesters, in England.
• 1798: The first recorded excavations atStonehenge are made byWilliam Cunnington andRichard Colt Hoare.
• Formal excavations continue atPompeii.

• 1790
  • Pediment of the Roman temple atBath, England, is discovered during work near theRoman Baths.^[2]
  • Townley Discobolus andLansdowne Heracles are discovered atHadrian's Villa inTivoli, Italy.
  • Bones presumed to be those of English poetJohn Milton (d. 1674) are disinterred during repairs to the church ofSt Giles-without-Cripplegate in London.^[3]
  • December 17 - The late post-classicMexicaAztec sun stone is discovered during repairs toMexico City Metropolitan Cathedral.^[4]
• 1796: Summer -Ribchester Hoard andhelmet found inLancashire, England.
• 1797: July 17 - The tomb ofJohn, King of England (d. 1216), is rediscovered atWorcester Cathedral in front of the altar.^[5]
• 1799: July 15 - At the town ofRosetta (Rashid), a harbor on theMediterranean coast ofEgypt, French troops find theRosetta Stone, inscribed with parallel texts inGreek,Egyptian demotic andhieroglyphs (translated in1822 byJean-François Champollion).

• 1793:James Douglas -Nenia Britannica, or, A Sepulchral History of Great Britain, from the earliest period to its general conversion to Christianity (published complete), the first account of the excavation of anAnglo-Saxon site (inKent)^[6] with artefacts systematically described and illustrated.^[7]
• 1797:James Hutton, a Scotsman who has been called "the Father of Geology," publishes theories describing the earth as destroying and renewing itself in a never-ending cycle.
• 1799:Vice President of the United StatesThomas Jefferson, writing inTransactions of theAmerican Philosophical Society4, describes the bones ofMegalonyx jeffersonii, an extinct ground sloth.

• 1797: January 3 - Three of the stones making upStonehenge fall due to heavy frosts.
• 1798: December 10 - Some antiquities being shipped to England bySir William Hamilton are lost in the wreck ofHMSColossus.

• 1790: December 22 -Jean-François Champollion, French decipherer ofEgyptian hieroglyphs (d.1832)^[8]
• 1792: June 10 -John Clayton, English antiquarian (d.1890)
• 1793: January 22 -Caspar Reuvens, founder ofRijksmuseum van Oudheden (Netherlands National Museum of Antiquities), first professor of archaeology (d.1835)
• 1794: July 7 -Frances Stackhouse Acton, née Knight, English botanist, archaeologist, artist and writer (d.1881)
• 1796: November 27 -John MacEnery, Irish-born priest and pioneerarchaeologist (d.1841)
• 1797: October 5 -John Gardiner Wilkinson, English traveller, writer and pioneer Egyptologist (d.1875)^[9]
• 1798: Approximate date -Kyriakos Pittakis, Greek archaeologist (d.1863)
• 1799: December 12 (23) -Karl Bryullov, Russian painter ofThe Last Day of Pompeii (d.1852)

• 1795: April 30 -Jean-Jacques Barthélemy French writer and numismatist (b.1716)^[10]

• Archaeology by decade
• 18th century in archaeology
• 1790s in science
• 1790s archaeological discoveries

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