Rediscovering Antiquity is an example of the genre of historical writing which seeks to recast the careers of little-known figures who have fallen into obscurity. This is typically intended to move them and their work into the proper "lineage," that is, the select group of ancestral figures from which modern practices are derived. Parslow is interested in the 18th century excavations of the Vesuvian cities, which, he argues, have been misunderstood by historians of archaeology. Indeed, common sources, such as Daniel (1981:55), describe the initial explorations of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae, sponsored by the Bourbon kings of Naples as "...treasure hunts and not serious excavations." While the Roman artifacts removed from the sites are credited with spurring interest in antiquity in Enlightenment Europe, modern scholars have until now devoted little attention to the means through which they were recovered.