Christian Jürgensen Thomsen

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Christian Jürgensen Thomsen
Illustration of C.J. Thomsen from 1902
Born	December 29, 1788
Died	May 21, 1865
Nationality	Danish
Fields	archaeology

Christian Jürgensen Thomsen (December 29, 1788 – May 21, 1865) was a Danish archaeologist.

Although he lacked academic training, in 1816 he was appointed head of 'antiquarian' collections which later developed into the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. It was while organizing and classifying the antiquities that he proposed the three-age system, for which he is remembered internationally.

Thomsen also wrote one of the first systematic treatises on gold bracteates of the Migration period.

Thomsen's study of artefacts 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 common associations of artefacts 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.

[edit] Early life

Christian Jurgensen Thomsen was born in Copenhagen in 1788. As a young man he visited Paris and, once he had returned to Denmark, became interested in the collection of coins. This may have encouraged his awareness of stylistic change through time.^[1]

[edit] Working life

Thomsen was invited to catalogue the collections of the Danish Royal Commission for the Preservation and Collection of Antiquities in 1816; this was not a salaried post. Over the following years Thomsen developed his "three age system", publishing the excavation of a barrow in 1837 that coroborated his findings.^[2]

[edit] References