Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (728 page)

 
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Thomsen , Christian Jürgensen
(1788–1865)
[Bi].

Son of a wealthy Danish merchant, he at first followed his father into business while developing an interest in antiquities. In 1816 Thomsen succeeded Rasmus Nyerup as Secretary of the Danish Royal Committee and became the first curator of the National Museum in Copenhagen at its opening in 1819. Bringing a businessman's mind to the development of the museum and its collections, his major contribution was the formulation and introduction of the
THREE AGE SYSTEM
. This he explained in his
Ledetraad til Nordisk Oldkyndighed
, published in 1836, as an effective but at that time conjectural method of dividing up prehistory into the successive ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron. Coincident with a broadly evolutionary perspective, this model has formed the basic chronological scheme used in prehistoric studies down to the present day. Thomsen's 1836 book was translated into English by Lord Ellesmere and published as
A guide to northern antiquities
in 1848.
[Bio.: J. Jorgen , 1987, Christian Jürgensen Thomsen : an appreciation in the bicentennial of his birth.
Acta Archaeologica
, 58 (1987), 1–15]

 
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Egyptian god, a moon god, scribe of the gods, inventor of writing, and reckoner of the years. His chief place of worship was Hermopolis Magna (El-Ashmunein) but he was highly regarded throughout Egypt. He was the god of learning and intellect, and patron deity of scribes. He was depicted as an ibis-headed man, and the ibis and the ape were sacred to him. The Greeks identified him with Hermes, the messenger of the gods. He had a famous book in which all the wisdom of the world was recorded. He also acted as scribe in the Hall of Judgement.

 
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The name used by four Egyptian pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty of whom Thothmes III was the most influential. Around 1490 bc he secured Egypt's possessions in Palestine and Syria by constant campaigning.

 
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Bronze Age nomadic communities related to the
CIMMERIANS
who occupied parts of the Russian steppe north of the Black Sea during the later 2nd millennium
bc
. Well known for their horsemanship and the early use of wheeled vehicles, they were driven out of their traditional homelands by the
SCYTHIANS
in the 8th century
bc
, retreating through the Caucasus and then across to the Balkans where they established themselves in the eastern part of the Balkan peninsula north of the areas of Greek settlement. By the 5th century
bc
Thracia encompassed the land which is now Bulgaria and Romania. In the 4th century
bc
the Thracian leader Seuthes established a capital at Seuthopilis but by the 1st century
ad
Thracia had become a province of the Roman empire.

 
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The system of classification pioneered by the Danish antiquarian C. J.
THOMSEN
in the early 19th century whereby artefacts of stone, bronze, and iron were recognized as characteristic of successive periods or phases in prehistory. This scheme, based essentially on the materials used in the manufacture of ancient artefacts, was used as a method of sorting the Danish archaeological collections and formed the basis upon which they were displayed in the Danish National Museum after 1836. With further subdivisions, including the partitioning of the age of stone into a Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic, the scheme remains the basis of prehistoric classification until the present day and underpins much cultural-historical periodization of the ancient past.

 
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