This article focuses on philosophical archaeology, starting from a recent essay by Ido Govrin titled Philosophical Archaeology. With and Beyond Agamben on Philosophy, History and Art. According to the definition provided by Enzo Melandri and recalled in Govrin’s work, archaeology is a sort of regression, not towards the unconscious but towards what made it unconscious. First, I will discuss this definition, comparing it with Foucault’s idea of archaeology and showing how the archaeological method resembles the psychoanalytic practice. Then, I will focus on Agamben’s thought, arguing that its messianic dimension lies in the problem of language and the possibility of an interruption in the predicative structure of language itself. I will dedicate the third paragraph to the problem of the paradigm, its relationship with the dialectical image, and the role of the example. Finally, I will briefly address the issue of the symptom, showing how philosophical archaeology can be conceived as symptomatology. Indeed, the symptom is something deeper and more complex than a simple sign; it calls into question the dynamic relationship between our past and our present.