You mean 1800s instead of ancient times, as in "finding dinosaur bones and realizing that they were normal animals that they soon came to call 'dinosaur' and to investigate in a modern scientific way"?

More can be written, but for that, there's a link in the FAQ under "Biology, evolution, and fossils" (in the app, the # anchor doesn't work, so find it about one-quarter of the way down). Older discoveries are addressed in questions towards the top. The modern scientific question is covered in the last one, "What was the world's reaction to the discovery of dinosaur fossils?" by /u/restricteddata .

This is not to discourage discussion. Further questions, data, and debate are welcome.