Although the German Johann Joachim Winckelmann is generally considered the father of modern archaeology, it’s important to note that this science didn’t suddenly appear in the 18th century but had roots hundreds of years earlier, particularly in the Italian Renaissance, which revived Greco-Roman artistic and cultural classicism.

Consequently, one might call one of those multidisciplinary humanists the “grandfather” of archaeology. This individual, who is also regarded as the founder of epigraphy by Theodor Mommsen and to whom we owe the identification of the Pyramids of Giza and the Parthenon, is Cyriacus of Ancona.