Heinrich Schliemann's finding of Troy.

  Early archaeologists went searching for physical evidence of the myths they studied, which was due to Heinrich Schliemann's finding of Troy. Was this method of searching for mythology a good idea for searching for artifacts and physical cities? This question is asked because the stories of the myths lasted for about 2600 years before someone went looking for and found the myths of the Greeks. Why didn't someone do this before Schliemann? This idea of "myth-chasing" still goes on, so what kind of modern "myth" do people search for in our present time?