The decade of the 1780s in archaeology involved some significant events.

• 1786: Antonio Bernasconi and Colonel Antonio del Rio examine the ruins of Palenque, making the first map of the site and some crude excavations.

• 1786: Excavation of a Roman villa near Warminster in England by antiquarian Catherine Downes.^[1]
• 1788: Excavations of Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter) in England by civil engineer Thomas Telford.
• Formal excavations continue at Pompeii.

• 1780
  • Tomb of the Scipios rediscovered in Rome.^[2]
  • Discobolus Palombara discovered in Rome.
• 1781: Roman coin hoards found in England near Eye, Suffolk (approximate date) and Stanmore, near London.
• 1782: Tomb of Catherine Parr (d. 1548) rediscovered in Sudeley Castle, England.
• 1786: Gold thumb ring of Senicianus discovered near Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) in England.
• 1789: The Stony Stratford Hoard uncovered in England.
• Xagħra Stone Circle first discovered in Malta.

• 1785: Engineer Diego Ruiz visits and publishes the first account of El Tajín.
• 1789: Saggio di lingua Etrusca by Luigi Lanzi.

• 1780: December 18 - The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is formed.
• 1783: The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is incorporated.

• 1784: July 25 - Richard William Howard Vyse, English soldier, anthropologist and Egyptologist (d. 1853).
• 1785: November 24 - Philipp August Böckh, German classical scholar and antiquarian (d. 1867).
• 1786: December 11 - William John Bankes, English Member of Parliament, explorer and Egyptologist (d. 1855).^[3]
• 1787: March 28 - Claudius James Rich, English traveller and scholar (d. 1820).
• 1788: September 10 - Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes, French archaeologist (d. 1868)
• 1788: December 29 - Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, Danish archaeologist (d. 1865).

• 1780: March 14 - Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre, Spanish-born military engineer and pioneer Classical archaeologist (b. 1702)
• 1788: February 2 - James "Athenian" Stuart, Scottish architect and archaeologist (b. 1713)^[4]