Renaissance Scholar Forged Archaeological Digs to Make Original Ideas Appear Ancient

What was said

"Aeneas of Viterbo had this radical vision of how he wanted to rethink history. And faked ancient texts. He made them up. And he faked archaeological digs. He would secretly bury artifacts and then dig them up to great drama. And forged antiquities to create this book that advanced his visionary original idea of ancient history. Because if he pretended he got it from antiquity, people would take it more seriously than if it was an original book."

Palmer describes how Renaissance scholar Aeneas of Viterbo conducted fake archaeological excavations, burying artifacts he created and then 'discovering' them publicly to lend authority to his historical theories. This extreme example illustrates how Renaissance intellectual culture valued ancient authority over originality, forcing scholars to disguise innovation as rediscovery.