Certainly, he wasn’t the “first” but it is fascinating to read about ancient people who shared passions as I do, be they philosophy, religion, racing, or ancient art… patron saints are good to have in this life.
The World’s First Archaeologist Was a Babylonian King – GreekReporter.com:
However, one of the earliest persons we know that we can call an “archaeologist” was a sixth-century BC man who lived at Nippur in Babylonia (modern-day Iraq), according to archaeologist Elizabeth Douglas Van Buren (1881-1961). He was either a collector or a curator of the university museum. This is inferred by a collection of artifacts he had in a clay vessel his house next to the library. He was a man of considerable knowledge, based on the collection of objects he kept. All the objects were specimens of the history and antiquity of his country.