Christian Jürgensen Thomsen
Encyclopedia
Christian Jürgensen Thomsen (December 29, 1788 – May 21, 1865) was a Danish
archaeologist.
In 1816 he was appointed head of 'antiquarian
' collections which later developed into the National Museum of Denmark
in Copenhagen
. While organizing and classifying the antiquities for exhibition, he decided to present them chronologically according to the three-age system
. Other scholars had previously proposed that prehistory had advanced from an age of stone
tools, to ages of tools made from bronze
and iron
, but these proposals were presented as systems of evolution, which did not allow dating of artifacts. Thomsen refined the three-age system as a chronological system by seeing which artifacts occurred with which other artifacts in closed finds. In this way, he was the first to establish an evidence-based division of prehistory into discrete periods. This achievement led to his being credited as the originator of the three-age system of European antiquity.
Thomsen also wrote one of the first systematic treatises on gold bracteate
s of the Migration period
. Thomsen's study of artifacts within the Copenhagen museum were based on associations between stylistic change, decoration and context; he recognised the importance of examining objects from "closed finds", allowing him to determine the associations of common artifacts for various periods (stone - bronze - iron). His results were published in the Ledetraad til Nordisk Oldkyndighed (Guideline to Scandinavian Antiquity) in 1836. An English translation was produced in 1848.
in 1788 into a wealthy merchant family. As a young man he visited Paris and, once he had returned to Denmark, became interested in coin collecting. This may have helped him develop his awareness of stylistic change through time.
He probably knew of the three-age model of prehistory through the works of Lucretius
, Vedel Simonsen, Montfaucon
and Mahudel, and decided to sort the material in the collection chronologically. Before Thomsen, this might have been done by mechanically sorting the materials according to their materials or the level of craftsmanship they displayed, but as the proveniences of many of the materials were known, he could see that crude artifacts were sometimes found with fine ones and metal artifacts with artifacts of stone. Rather than take a simple technological or evolutionary approach, he realized that the task was to determine in which periods the artifacts had been made.
Thomsen decided to map out which kinds of phenomena co-occurred in deposits and which did not, as this would allow him to discern any trends that were exclusive to certain periods. In this way he discovered that stone tools were found in connection with amber, pottery, glass beads, whereas bronze was found with both iron and gold, but silver was only found in connection with iron. He also found that bronze weapons did not occur with iron artifacts - so that each period could be defined by its preferred cutting material. He also found that the types of grave goods varied between burial types: stone tools were found with uncremated corpses and stone-chamber tombs, bronze weapons and lur
s in relation to stone-schist
graves, and iron with chamber tombs in barrows. When detractors asked rhetorically why there was no ”glass age,” Thomsen responded that glass beads were found in all three periods, but bowls of glass only in the Iron Age
.
To Thomsen the find circumstances were the key to dating. As early as 1821, he wrote in a letter to fellow antiquarian Schröder that, ”[n]othing is more important than to point out that hitherto we have not paid enough attention to what was found together,” and, the next year, that ”[we] still do not know enough about most of the antiquities either … only future archaeologists may be able to decide, but they will never be able to do so if they do not observe what things are found together and our collections are not brought to a greater degree of perfection.”
This analysis emphasizing coöcurrence and systematic attention to archaeological context allowed Thomsen to build a chronological framework of the materials in the collection and to classify new finds in relation to the established chronology, even without much knowledge of its provenience. In this way, Thomsen's system was a true chronological system rather than an evolutionary or technological system. His chronology was established by 1825, and visitors to the museum were instructed in his methods. Thomsen also published journal articles and pamphlets in which he emphasized the importance of the find circumstances for later interpretation and dating. Finally, in 1836, he published the illustrated monograph Guide to Northern Antiquity, in which he described his chronology together with comments about which things occurred together in finds.
Like previous antiquarians, such as Winckelmann, Thomsen paid attention to stylistic analysis as well, but he used his chronological framework as evidence that stylistic developments had taken place, not the other way round. Thomsen may have been able to make his early advances in the development of archaeology because he had such a wide variety of material to review, consisting of collective finds from a large relatively homogeneous culture area. He was the first to develop it into a chronological system rather than a speculative evolutionary model.
Thomsen was an important influence on subsequent generations of prehistorians in Scandinavia, and he taught his methods to archaeologists such as J. J. A. Worsaae and Bror Emil Hildebrand
and later Oscar Montelius
. He also importantly influenced and was influenced by contemporary Swedish prehistorians such as Sven Nilsson
.
Thomsen's Ledetraad til Nordisk Oldkyndighed (Guideline to Scandinavian Antiquity)(1836) was published in English in 1848. Worsaae's The Primeval Antiquities of Denmark was published in English in 1849; the two works were highly influential on the development of archaeology theory and practice in Great Britain and the United States.
(Art Society) in the 1830s when its member numbers and position peaked. In 1839 he was appointed as inspector at the Royal Painting Collection alongside Niels Laurits Høyen. Many private collectors also consulted Thomsen.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
archaeologist.
In 1816 he was appointed head of 'antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
' collections which later developed into the National Museum of Denmark
National Museum of Denmark
The National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen is Denmark’s largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main domicile is located a short distance from Strøget at the center of Copenhagen. It contains exhibits from around the world,...
in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
. While organizing and classifying the antiquities for exhibition, he decided to present them chronologically according to the three-age system
Three-age system
The three-age system in archaeology and physical anthropology is the periodization of human prehistory into three consecutive time periods, named for their respective tool-making technologies:* The Stone Age* The Bronze Age* The Iron Age-Origin:...
. Other scholars had previously proposed that prehistory had advanced from an age of stone
STONe
is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Sin-Ichi Hiromoto. Kodansha released the two bound volumes of the manga on April 23, 2002 and August 23, 2002, respectively.The manga is licensed for an English-languague released in North America be Tokyopop...
tools, to ages of tools made from bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
and iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
, but these proposals were presented as systems of evolution, which did not allow dating of artifacts. Thomsen refined the three-age system as a chronological system by seeing which artifacts occurred with which other artifacts in closed finds. In this way, he was the first to establish an evidence-based division of prehistory into discrete periods. This achievement led to his being credited as the originator of the three-age system of European antiquity.
Thomsen also wrote one of the first systematic treatises on gold bracteate
Bracteate
A bracteate is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age...
s of the Migration period
Migration Period
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...
. Thomsen's study of artifacts within the Copenhagen museum were based on associations between stylistic change, decoration and context; he recognised the importance of examining objects from "closed finds", allowing him to determine the associations of common artifacts for various periods (stone - bronze - iron). His results were published in the Ledetraad til Nordisk Oldkyndighed (Guideline to Scandinavian Antiquity) in 1836. An English translation was produced in 1848.
Early life
Christian Jurgensen Thomsen was born in CopenhagenCopenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
in 1788 into a wealthy merchant family. As a young man he visited Paris and, once he had returned to Denmark, became interested in coin collecting. This may have helped him develop his awareness of stylistic change through time.
Contributions to archaeology
In 1816 Thomsen was selected to curate Danish Royal Commission for the Collection and Preservation of Antiquities' first exhibition. As the post was unsalaried, Thomsen's independent means and his experience as a collector of coins were his primary qualifications.He probably knew of the three-age model of prehistory through the works of Lucretius
Lucretius
Titus Lucretius Carus was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is an epic philosophical poem laying out the beliefs of Epicureanism, De rerum natura, translated into English as On the Nature of Things or "On the Nature of the Universe".Virtually no details have come down concerning...
, Vedel Simonsen, Montfaucon
Montfaucon
-Places:*In Switzerland**Montfaucon, Switzerland, in the canton of Jura*In France** Montfaucon, Aisne, in the Aisne département** Montfaucon, Doubs, in the du Doubs département** Montfaucon, Gard, in the Gard département...
and Mahudel, and decided to sort the material in the collection chronologically. Before Thomsen, this might have been done by mechanically sorting the materials according to their materials or the level of craftsmanship they displayed, but as the proveniences of many of the materials were known, he could see that crude artifacts were sometimes found with fine ones and metal artifacts with artifacts of stone. Rather than take a simple technological or evolutionary approach, he realized that the task was to determine in which periods the artifacts had been made.
Thomsen decided to map out which kinds of phenomena co-occurred in deposits and which did not, as this would allow him to discern any trends that were exclusive to certain periods. In this way he discovered that stone tools were found in connection with amber, pottery, glass beads, whereas bronze was found with both iron and gold, but silver was only found in connection with iron. He also found that bronze weapons did not occur with iron artifacts - so that each period could be defined by its preferred cutting material. He also found that the types of grave goods varied between burial types: stone tools were found with uncremated corpses and stone-chamber tombs, bronze weapons and lur
Lur
A lur is a long natural blowing horn without finger holes that is played by embouchure. Lurs can be straight or curved in various shapes. The purpose of the curves was to make long instruments easier to carry A lur is a long natural blowing horn without finger holes that is played by embouchure....
s in relation to stone-schist
Schist
The schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
graves, and iron with chamber tombs in barrows. When detractors asked rhetorically why there was no ”glass age,” Thomsen responded that glass beads were found in all three periods, but bowls of glass only in the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
.
To Thomsen the find circumstances were the key to dating. As early as 1821, he wrote in a letter to fellow antiquarian Schröder that, ”[n]othing is more important than to point out that hitherto we have not paid enough attention to what was found together,” and, the next year, that ”[we] still do not know enough about most of the antiquities either … only future archaeologists may be able to decide, but they will never be able to do so if they do not observe what things are found together and our collections are not brought to a greater degree of perfection.”
This analysis emphasizing coöcurrence and systematic attention to archaeological context allowed Thomsen to build a chronological framework of the materials in the collection and to classify new finds in relation to the established chronology, even without much knowledge of its provenience. In this way, Thomsen's system was a true chronological system rather than an evolutionary or technological system. His chronology was established by 1825, and visitors to the museum were instructed in his methods. Thomsen also published journal articles and pamphlets in which he emphasized the importance of the find circumstances for later interpretation and dating. Finally, in 1836, he published the illustrated monograph Guide to Northern Antiquity, in which he described his chronology together with comments about which things occurred together in finds.
Like previous antiquarians, such as Winckelmann, Thomsen paid attention to stylistic analysis as well, but he used his chronological framework as evidence that stylistic developments had taken place, not the other way round. Thomsen may have been able to make his early advances in the development of archaeology because he had such a wide variety of material to review, consisting of collective finds from a large relatively homogeneous culture area. He was the first to develop it into a chronological system rather than a speculative evolutionary model.
Thomsen was an important influence on subsequent generations of prehistorians in Scandinavia, and he taught his methods to archaeologists such as J. J. A. Worsaae and Bror Emil Hildebrand
Bror Emil Hildebrand
Bror Emil Hildebrand was a Swedish archaeologist, numismatist and museum director. From 1837 to 1879 he was Custodian of Ancient Monuments and Secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters. From 1847 he was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and from 1866 a member of the Swedish...
and later Oscar Montelius
Oscar Montelius
Oscar Montelius was a Swedish archaeologist who refined the concept of seriation, a relative chronological dating method...
. He also importantly influenced and was influenced by contemporary Swedish prehistorians such as Sven Nilsson
Sven Nilsson
Sven Nilsson was a Swedish zoologist and archaeologist, who was director of the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet , professor of Natural history at Lund University , and rector of the university...
.
Thomsen's Ledetraad til Nordisk Oldkyndighed (Guideline to Scandinavian Antiquity)(1836) was published in English in 1848. Worsaae's The Primeval Antiquities of Denmark was published in English in 1849; the two works were highly influential on the development of archaeology theory and practice in Great Britain and the United States.
Influence on the art scene
Together with Niels Laurits Høyen, Thomsen had great influence on the art scene in Copenhagen. He was active as a board in the influential KunstforeningenKunstforeningen
Kunstforeningen , now officially called Gammel Strand after its address, is an exhibition space and non-profit membership organization located at Gammel Strand in Copenhagen, Denmark...
(Art Society) in the 1830s when its member numbers and position peaked. In 1839 he was appointed as inspector at the Royal Painting Collection alongside Niels Laurits Høyen. Many private collectors also consulted Thomsen.