1823 in archaeology

Excavations

• Roman tombs near Lorium, Etruria.
• Roman villa near Bramdean, Hampshire, England.

Finds

• January - In a cave on the Gower Peninsula of south Wales, Rev. William Buckland discovers the "Red Lady of Paviland", the first identification of a prehistoric human burial. The bones are discovered with those of the woolly mammoth, proving that the two had coexisted, although Buckland dates the human remains as Roman.
• Summer - Smythe's Megalith, a Neolithic tomb, is discovered in Kent, England, and excavated by local antiquarian Clement Smythe.
• Borough Hill Roman villa in the midlands of England is discovered by archaeologist, George Baker.
• The Caergwrle Bowl, a decorated Middle Bronze Age artefact, is discovered in north east Wales.
• The Ormside bowl, a gilded silver Anglo-Saxon double-bowl, dating from the mid-8th century, is found in Great Ormside, Cumbria.

Events

• Rev. Dr. Henry Duncan completes reconstruction of the Northumbrian Ruthwell Cross in Scotland.

Births

• June 7 - Giuseppe Fiorelli, Italian archaeologist of Pompeii
• November 17 - John Evans, English archaeologist

Deaths

• December 3 - Giovanni Battista Belzoni, Italian explorer of Egyptian antiquities