1853 in archaeology

Explorations

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

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.

Births

• June 3 – Flinders Petrie, English Egyptologist
• December 26 – Wilhelm Dörpfeld, German architect and archaeologist

Deaths

• June 8 – Howard Vyse, English soldier and Egyptologist
• Charles Masson, British explorer of Buddhist sites