Christian Jürgensen Thomsen (29 December 1788 – 21 May 1865) was a Danish antiquarian who developed early archaeological techniques and methods.

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).

[2] 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.

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.

He also found that bronze weapons did not occur with iron artifacts - so that each period could be defined by its preferred cutting material.

Thomsen also published journal articles and pamphlets in which he emphasized the importance of the find circumstances for later interpretation and dating.

[7] 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.

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.

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.