Christian Jürgensen Thomsen
| Christian Jürgensen Thomsen | |
|---|---|
J. V. Gertner, Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, 1849
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| Born |
29 December 1788 Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Died | 21 May 1865 (aged 76) Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Nationality | Danish |
| Fields |
Archeology Museum administration |
| Known for | Introducing the Three-age system |
Christian Jürgensen Thomsen (29 December 1788 – 21 May 1865) was a Danish antiquarian who developed early archaeological techniques and methods.
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 bracteates 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.
Christian Jurgensen Thomsen was born in Copenhagen 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.
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.
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