Pitt Rivers' interests in archaeology and ethnology began in the 1850s, during postings overseas, and he became a noted scientist while he was a serving military officer. His interest began with the evolution of the rifle, which extended to other weapons and tools, and he became a collector of artefacts illustrating the development of human invention. His collection became famous, and, after being exhibited in 1874–1875 at the
Bethnal Green Museum, London, was presented in 1885 to the University of Oxford. He was elected, in the space of five years, to the
Ethnological Society of London (1861), the
Society of Antiquaries of London (1864) and the
Anthropological Society of London (1865). In 1867, Pitt Rivers left full-time military service and went on
half pay. The same year, he visited an archaeological excavation being carried out in the
Yorkshire Wolds by Canon
William Greenwell, librarian of
Durham Cathedral and an established archaeologist, to whom he may have been introduced by mutual friends
George Rolleston or
Albert Way. Pitt Rivers received his first instruction in excavation from Greenwell, and later described himself as Greenwell's pupil. Greenwell viewed archaeology as a serious scholarly process of assembling evidence on periods which lacked written records, contrasted to the "ignorant and greedy spirit of mere curiosity-hunting"; views that would influence Pitt Rivers' own approach. This style of arrangement, designed to highlight evolutionary trends in human artefacts, was a revolutionary innovation in museum design. Pitt Rivers' ethnological collections form the basis of the
Pitt Rivers Museum which is still one of
Oxford's attractions. His researches and collections cover periods from the
Lower Paleolithic to Roman and medieval times, and extend all over the world. The Pitt Rivers Museum curates more than half a million ethnographic and archaeological artefacts, photographic and manuscript collections from all parts of the world. The museum was founded in 1884 when the university accepted the gift of more than 20,000 artefacts from Pitt Rivers. The university awarded him the
Doctorate of Civil Law in 1886, and he was later named a Fellow of the Royal Society. The collections continue to grow, and the museum has been described as one of the "six great ethnological museums of the world". Pitt Rivers' Wessex Collection is housed in
The Salisbury Museum, not far from
Stonehenge. The Wessex Gallery of archaeology opened in 2014, funded by the
Heritage Lottery Fund and other sources. Pitt Rivers and other early archaeologists such as
William Stukeley who first investigated the prehistory of Wiltshire,
Cranborne Chase,
Avebury and Stonehenge, are celebrated in the gallery. The estates Pitt Rivers inherited in 1880 contained a wealth of archaeological material from the
Roman and
Saxon periods. He excavated these over seventeen seasons, from the mid-1880s until his death. His approach was highly methodical by the standards of the time, and he is widely regarded as the first scientific archaeologist to work in Britain. His most important methodological innovation was his insistence that
all artefacts, not just beautiful or unique ones, be collected and catalogued. This focus on everyday objects as the key to understanding the past broke decisively with earlier archaeological practice, which verged on treasure hunting. It is Pitt Rivers' most important, and most lasting, scientific legacy. His work inspired
Mortimer Wheeler, among others, to add to the scientific approach of archaeological excavation techniques. Following the passage of the
Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882, Pitt Rivers became the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments: a post created by anthropologist and parliamentarian
John Lubbock who married Pitt Rivers' daughter, Alice. Charged with cataloguing archaeological sites and protecting them from destruction, he worked with his customary methodical zeal but was hampered by the limitations of the law, which gave him little real power over the landowners on whose property the sites stood. On the advice of Pitt-Rivers,
Kit's Coty House and
Little Kit's Coty House, Kent, were among the first ancient British remains to be protected by the state. Railings were erected around the stones there to prevent vandalism. Pitt Rivers was a leading member of the
Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, and was president of the society from 1890 to 1893. == Other interests ==