The year 1863 was the first to witness an archaeological dig in Jerusalem. This first excavation, which was actually a clearing of the 'Kings' tombs', was conducted by a French soldier, de Saulcy, who set out to the Holy Land, seeking comfort after his wife's death. (The stone sarcophagi found in the tombs are exhibited at the Louvre Museum.) Jerusalem, due to its centrality in the Christian religion, was the first site in the Holy Land to be excavated. Unfortunately, this was before the introduction of modern methods of excavation. The excavators of Jerusalem, past and present, form an anthropomorphic mosaic of characters - an integral part of the city's history.