Graz and became the first professionally trained archaeologist in Carniola, was the curator of the museum from 1905 to 1909. He introduced the concept of archaeology as historical science and understood the discipline’s importance in revealing major historical and cultural processes. Instead of artifact classifications, Schmid considered systematic topography, settlement excavations, and the analysis of settlement processes on the regional level as the most important direction in archaeological research. A good example of his approach is his study of prehistoric hill-fort settlements in the Pohorje region of northeast Slovenia (“Die Ringwälle des Bacherngebietes,” Mitteilungen des Prähistorischen Kommission 2, 3 [1915], 239–305). This work retained its importance in settlement studies in Slovenia for more than fifty years. Schmid also conducted the first large-scale excavations in Emona and several smaller excavations on other Roman towns in Slovenia and Austria. Last but not least, he published the pioneering study on Slavonic archaeology in Slovenia (“Altslovenische Gräber Krains,” Carniola 1, 17–44 [1908]).

In 1909 Schmid was not reelected to the position of curator, and he moved to the Provincial Museum of Styria in Graz. However, in spite of his short service in Ljubljana and only occasional research in Slovenia between the two world wars, his role in Slovenian archaeology was crucial, particularly in the fields of settlement studies and the archaeology of the Roman province of Noricum.

The Central Commission (established in 1850) was the second component of the institutional framework in the Austrian Empire. Its provincial offices, responsible for the territory of Slovenia, were located in Trieste, Ljubljana, and Graz. Though its major role was the protection of sites and monuments, the commission also encouraged archaeological research, particularly topographic studies, and the production of archaeological maps.

P. Kandler (1805–1872), conservator for the Littoral and historian, produced an archaeological map of Istria (Carta archeologica dell’Istria) in 1864. Unfortunately, it remained unpublished and was consequently lost. However, many scholars from that region (including Carlo Marchesetti) based their research on Kandler’s records.

Simon Rutar (1851–1903), the conservator for Carniola (1889–1903), was a historian, geographer, and classical philologist who started his archaeological career in Split, working with Don Frane Bulić, the famous Croatian researcher of Roman Dalmatia. Rutar’s most important archaeological work (written with A. Premerstein) was the survey of the Roman roads and fortresses in Carniola, Römische Strassen und Befestigungen in Krain (Vienna 1899). He was also an influential historian and is considered one of the founders of modern national historiography.

The history of the archaeological map (“Sites and Monuments Record”) in Carniola started in 1862 when P. Radics published Archäologische Karte von Krain (Ljubljana 1862). This map contained records on some 150 Roman sites known from literature. In 1865 F. Pichler published a map of numismatic finds from Styria (Repertorium der Steirischen Münzkunde [Graz]), which was later completed with descriptions of other archaeological sites (Text zur archaeologischen Krate von Steiermark [Graz 1879]). On the initiative of the Central Commission, A. Globočnik published a more detailed archaeological map of Carniola (“Die archäologische Karte von Krain,” Mitteilungen des Musealvereines für Krain 2, 263–264 [1889]) in 1882.

In other Slovene provinces archaeological research at the turn of the twentieth century was particularly intensive in the Littoral. There, the leading role was played by the Trieste Natural History Museum and its director, Carlo Marchesetti (1850–1926), a naturalist and prehistorian who systematically researched the prehistory of the province. Marchesetti conducted a series of large excavations (e.g., Licia, skocjan) and smaller trial excavations, and he published the results relatively promptly. He produced a very influential topographic study on Karst and Istrian hill-forts (I castellieri preistorici di Trieste e della regione Giulia [Trieste 1903]), which is still considered a reference text for the prehistory of the Littoral and Istria. Ptuj was the major local center of archaeological research in Styria. The town already had a lapidarium (gemstone collection)