title: 1853 in archaeology
text: # 1853 in archaeology
  
  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
  
  ## 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 (d. 1942)
  * December 26 – Wilhelm Dörpfeld, German architect and archaeologist (d. 1940)
  
  ## Deaths
  
  * June 8 – Howard Vyse, English soldier and Egyptologist (b. 1784)
  * Charles Masson, British explorer of Buddhist sites (b. 1800)
  