1802 in archaeology

Finds

• May 24/25 - A loculus in the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome is located and opened, revealing remains believed at this time to be of the early Christian martyr Philomena.

Publications

• Vivant Denon - Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte pendant les campagnes du général Bonaparte; includes first publication of the Dendera zodiac.
• Johann Jahn - Biblische Archäologie.

Other events

• The Rosetta Stone arrives at the British Museum and first goes on public display.
• Georg Friedrich Grotefend makes the first decipherment of cuneiform.

Births

• Juan Galindo, explorer and writer of early accounts of the ruins of the Maya civilization.