S obzirom na to da je arheologija znanstvena disciplina koja se u suvremenom smislu počela razvijati u posljednjim desetljećima XIX. st., u radu se razmatra kako je enciklopedika u Hrvatskoj na primjeru dviju najstarijih nacionalnih enciklopedija – Hrvatske enciklopedije urednika Ivana Zocha i Josipa Mencina (1887–1890) te istoimene enciklopedije urednika Mate Ujevića (1941–45) – pratila onodobne njezine dosege odnosno zanimanje stručne, ali i šire zajednice, kako sadržajem, zastupljenošću i opsegom arheoloških tema tako i znanstvenom i pedagoškom razinom. Arheologija, kao mlada znanstvena disciplina, u Zochovoj i Mencinovoj enciklopediji nije opsežno obrađena. Bez obzira na mnoge manjkavosti te činjenicu da su većinu članaka napisali sami urednici uz pomoć pedagoga različitih područja, kao pionirsko djelo enciklopedija je otvorila put k ostvarenju kasnijih nacionalnih enciklopedičkih projekata. Enciklopedija Mate Ujevića, za razliku od Zochove i Mencinove, bila je produkt znanstvene misli onoga vremena. Članci o arheologiji, koja je u to doba već postavila znatno čvršće temelje, u formalnom i sadržajnom pogledu na visokoj su znanstvenoj razini. Premda nedovršena, Ujevićeva enciklopedija predstavlja naše najsustavnije enciklopedijsko djelo sve do pojave izdanja Leksikografskoga zavoda, utemeljenog 1950. na poticaj Miroslava Krleže. Since archaeology is an academic discipline that began to develop in the modern sense in the final decades of the 19th century, this paper examines the two oldest national encyclopedias—The Croatian Encyclopedia edited by Ivan Zoch and Josip Mencin (1887–90) and the identically named encyclopedia edited by Mate Ujević (1941–45)—in order to determine how encyclopedics in Croatia kept pace with its then achievements and the interest of the professional and broader public, through the contents, presence, and breadth of archaeological topics as well as on the scientific and pedagogic level. As a young academic discipline, archaeology was not extensively covered in Zoch and Mencin’s encyclopedia. Regardless of many deficiencies and the fact that most entries were written by the editors themselves and without the help of pedagogues from various fields, the encyclopedia was a pioneering work that opened the way towards achieving later national encyclopedic projects. The encyclopedia of Mate Ujević, as opposed to Zoch and Mencin’s, was the product of the scientific thought of that time. Entries on archaeology, which had by then set much firmer foundations, are of high scholarly quality in terms of form and contents. Although unfinished, Ujević’s encyclopedia was the most systematic encyclopedic work in Croatia until the editions of the Institute of Lexicography, founded at the initiative of Miroslav Krleža in 1950, were published.