Archéologie et tradition académique en Europe aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles - article ; n°5 ; vol.37, pg 760-777

Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations - Année 1982 - Volume 37 - Numéro 5 - Pages 760-777
Archaeology and Academic Traditions in Europe in the 18th and 19th Centuries

The development of archaeology in Europe from its origins to the 18th and 19th centuries was strongly influenced by national traditions. By the 16th century, in Scandinavia, an interest in national antiquities led to the establishment of protection and research agencies and the enactment of archaeological legislation. But in Britain, Germany, France, and Italy, the élites were almost exclusively interested in the Graeco-Roman world. Archaeology thus came to be seen as the science of traveling and collection-gathering antiquarians. With the founding in Rome in 1828 of the Institute di Corrispondenza A rcheologica, archaeology acquired a scientific framework and laid claim to an academic status that it was soon granted in Germany. At the same time, yet quite independently, prehistorical finds led naturalists to use archaeology as a means of contributing to the natural history of man.
The humanist and naturalist traditions have been fighting ever since over a discipline whose boundaries are by nature imprecise. The difference between the French and German approach to the problem of interdisciplinary studies may explain the enduring crisis in French archaeology.
18 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.