The title of this volume of collected essays immediately conjures up the scholar to whom it is dedicated, Ève Gran-Aymerich, recalling her key work Naissance de l’archéologie moderne 1798–1945.

The introduction presents a brief biography of Évelyne (Ève) Préhu, who married the archaeologist, Jean Gran-Aymerich, in 1971; while the foreword emphasises the importance of Franco-German collaboration (notwithstanding the historical antagonism between the two countries) for the research conducted by Ève.

The contributions are gathered according to three main themes: ‘The origins of archaeology’, ‘Archaeology and cultural exchanges’ and ‘Archaeology and institutions’. While some chapters fall outside this rigorous structure, readers can chart their own journey through the evolving world of antiquarianism and archaeology. Several ancient civilisations are touched upon – Egypt, Greece, Rome – and a variety of countries visited – Spain, Germany, Italy, Albania, Algeria and Tunisia.

The first section opens with a discussion of two iconic sites, Olympia and Pompeii. An analysis of Gallo-Roman terra sigillata provides the reader with an opportunity to consider the impact of the Age of Enlightenment on archaeology. The collector, Franz I von Erbach, and the Polish writer, Jean Potocki (responsible for the discovery of the first mammoth in Siberia in 1805), are singled out as lovers of antiquities. The work on Hindustan by Louis-Mathieu Langlès is featured, and attention is drawn to the role of Andrea Lombardi in formulating a policy on political involvement in archaeology during the Italian Risorgimento.

The second section highlights the exchange of objects and ideas that have influenced the taste of entire nations and continents. The influence of antiquities on artists and curators is emphasised, along with the history of exhibitions. Highlights here include two famous sarcophagi discovered at Vulci and the impact of their arrival in Boston, Massachusetts, courtesy of the collector, James Jackson Jarves, on the occasion of the International Exposition in 1883. The influence of the historian, Theodor Mommsen, is also assessed.

Other milestones include the exhibition held in Berlin in 1913 on Ludwig Borchard’s excavations at Tel el-Amarna, and the display of the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin in 1925. The history of the aesthetic appropriation of archaeological artefacts in that period is discussed, concluding with the key question ‘To whom does antiquity belong?’.

There then follow chapters on the history of the circulation of ideas rather than objects. Two of these deal with specific themes and three with more generalised discussions of prehistory. The nineteenth-century myth that Marseille was founded as a Phoenician trading post is analysed, as is the fate of the archaeologist, Jules Martha, as one of the ‘victims’ of the dispute on the origin of the Etruscan language. The effects of the teaching methods of Abbé Henri Breuil in Great Britain are assessed, as is the work of Raymond Lantier and Gabriel de Mortillet.

The third section, ‘Archaeology and institutions’, opens with a contribution on Caspar Reuvens and the Museum of Antiquities at Leiden. A presentation on the Gabinete de Antigüedades de la Real Academia, in Madrid, offers a summary of Spanish legislation on cultural heritage. Désiré Raoul-Rochette’s courses at the Bibliothèque du Roi, in Paris, are examined with reference to his utilisation of antiquities from the Cabinet du Roi. An assessment is given of the importance of direct observation of objects and places in the work of the artist and antiquary, Émile Prisse Avennes.

The reader is brought into the nineteenth century, in Algeria, with an analysis of works by the historian and writer, Émile Masqueray. A contribution on Albania deals with French archaeology during the 1920s, while the last article here is devoted to the archive of the Egyptologist, George Legrain.

The concluding contribution on Tunisia after the (Jasmine) Revolution, in 2011, states that the future of archaeology there depends on political evolution – a statement that leads to further speculation on the connection between archaeology and politics. The conclusions drawn relative to Tunisia might equally be applied to some European countries.

The abstracts and general index are useful tools in a book of such length, written in five different languages by thirty contributors. The effort is certainly worth it, as the volume is rich in ideas for future research in many aspects of the discipline.