The Ottoman Empire was around until the early twenties, which coincides with a lot of famous, early archaeology. However, when I hear about this period I mostly hear about the French in Egypt, or later, the English in Egypt or Greece.
When the Ottomans controlled this territory, did they do any significant or large archaeological work?
The Ottomans sometimes worked in conjunction with European archaeologists; administrators often judged diplomatic relations with these nations more important than protecting artifacts of the past, and in the early half of the nineteenth century, they generally allowed the flow of artifacts from their territory to Europe in the interest of diplomacy. Policy makers were unfortunately very slow to realize the political significance of archaeology, and decades passed before they began to take steps to safeguard historical items. By the time they did, decrees were primarily aimed at catching up with the Europeans and trying to stop the abduction of significant artifacts (and the European prestige that went along with discovering them).
The Istanbul Museum of Archaeology was founded by imperial decree in 1891; prior to that, government ministers (most of them educated at least in part abroad in Europe) had pushed for an Ottoman answer to European archaelogical ambitions for several decades, and the creation of that institute and others like it was a direct political move in imitation of the Europeans. During this period, Osman Hamdi Bey was one of the most notable Ottoman archaeologists; most of his research was focused on Anatolian sites, and the artifacts recovered from those digs remained in Ottoman control.