During the 19th century, the intellectual and material construction of the archaeology of prehistoric times was a complex process involving many factors, and even today only a few of its aspects are visible. However, over the last twenty years or so, a growing number of works and individual and/or collective research projects have highlighted a renewed interest on the part of the European scientific community in the history and epistemology of this discipline. These works have addressed or examined the birth and development of prehistoric archaeology, but without having been able to contextualise its approaches, methods and reflexive system. It is now possible to go beyond the implicit gaps of a simple historical narrative by looking at the complexity and richness of the scholarly exchanges that preceded the actual birth of the discipline and then guided its development. Taking this into account, this book aims to revisit this disciplinary aspect by providing an intellectual, political and social context for the factors, protagonists and practices that contributed to the birth and emergence of a European pre-protohistoric archaeology firmly rooted in its century. Dedicated to an eminent figure, Gabriel de Mortillet, whose 200th birthday was celebrated in 2021, this book sets out to study the players (people, institutions, collections, sites), ideas and interactions involved in the prehistory of the second nineteenth century, in order to better assess its scientific output and thus appreciate the true value of its intellectual and heritage legacy.

This book is included in DOAB.