18th c. understanding?

[Medicus matt]

If I understand your question correctly, then what you're interested in is the history of antiquarianism, which is a subject I've been looking into over the past couple of years. Although there had been an interest in 'antiquarian matters' (as Livy puts it) as long as there has been a history and relics to take an interest in, it really only begins to develop as a 'scientific movement' in the 16th century (with Leland being the foremost English example), peaking in the 17th and 18th century (which saw men like William Stukely travel the country making sketches of ancient monuments and linking them to classical sources and fitting them into the known framework of history) before evolving in the 19th century into the various disciplines of archaeology, art history, philology etc.

Whilst the antiquarians of the early modern age did a great deal of good work in promoting, preserving and recording monuments that, until then had been plundered at will for their art and their raw building materials, they lacked the recording methods of the modern archaeologist which lead to us knowning very little of value about most of their discoveries.

Still, it's a fascinating subject and, if you want to know more, I recommend that you read Rosemary Sweet's "Antiquaries" to start with.