August 31 - Scottish-born scene painter David Roberts sets sail for Egypt (with the encouragement of J. M. W. Turner) to produce a series of drawings of the region for use as the basis for paintings and chromolithographs.
The 5th century BC bronze Chatsworth Head (found on Cyprus in 1836) is acquired by the 6th Duke of Devonshire at Smyrna from H. P. Borrell.
Etruscan statuettes found in Lake of the Idols.
Winter 1837/38 - The Neolithic settlement of Rinyo on Rousay in Orkney (Scotland) is discovered.
Rifa'a el-Tahtawi publishes The History of Ancient Egyptians.
Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes publishes the first part of De La Création, Essai sur L'Origine et la Progression des Êtres.
Jean-Frédéric Waldeck publishes the first detailed account of the Maya ruins of Uxmal.
May 19 - Sir Richard Colt Hoare, English archaeologist (b. 1758).
1838 in archaeology Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
