Lady Hester Stanhope

Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope (12 March 1776 – 23 June 1839) was a British adventurer, writer, antiquarian, and one of the most famous travellers of her age. Her excavation of Ascalon in 1815 is considered the first to use modern archaeological principles, and her use of a medieval Italian document is described as "one of the earliest uses of textual sources by field archaeologists". Her letters and memoirs made her famous as an explorer.