18th c. understanding?

[Robert Vermaat]

The thing I find amazing, is that after standing for millenia, Ancient remains have vanished in the last 200 years...the age of Science and scholarly research!

I think you'll find that remains began vanishing a bit earlier, say around the 16-17th century when building relly too off again. Especially in our quarters (NW Europe) worked stone was a precious commodity, and it was used accordingly. As Castellum Fectio was re-used in the builing of Utrecht, so was Hadrian's Wall re-used in cathedrals, fortifications, roads...