Did this sort of disciplined, methodical search for the past start with the modern era, or did people in previous eras dig up ruins and seek out old manuscripts for the sake of understanding earlier ones?
/u/Bentresh has previously answered Were there any archaeologists in ancient cultures?
/u/CommodoreCoco has previously talked about the difference between archaeologists and graverobbers
/u/Snapshot52 has also answered How long does someone have to be dead for it to be considered archaeology instead of graverobbing?
Et cetera. Not all archaeology has historically been methodical or disciplined. More answers about Roman ruins below.