In North America explorers were less numerous, but some of them made important contributions to archaeology. In the Mississippi Valley Lesueur excavated some mounds, and Pinart’s research on the northwest Pacific Coast is still significant. The most important contribution was made by Cessac, whose lithic collections in the Chumash area still form the basis of the history of California.

mesoamerica attracted most investigators. There, Charnay used photographs for the first time to register monuments. He also identified the mythical Tollan as Tula, and he conducted the first excavations of that site. Diguet’s contribution to the archaeology of northwestern Mexico still awaits proper evaluation, and in the Mayan areas, Périgny discovered the Rio Bec site and style. The Swiss investigator De Saussure published a unique article on the site of Cantona, now for the first time the subject of a vast archaeological project. But his main contribution lay in the study of glyphs, with his publication of Codex Becker.

The study of Mesoamerican writing systems constituted a special branch of archaeology in which French scholars participated during the nineteenth century. Brasseur’s discovery of Landa’s Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan and of the Popol Vuh and then the Codex Tro-Cortesianus were essential landmarks in the field of epigraphy. Despite the intervention of scholars such as Charencey and Rosny later on, epigraphical studies were quickly left to German or American specialists (Seler, Förstemann, Scwellhas, Maler, Maudslay, and Goodman).

South American civilizations were somewhat neglected but not ignored by French archaeologists: Wiener is known for having brought back 2,500 artifacts from his two-year stay in Peru, many of them characteristic of previously unknown styles such as Recuay. The Créqui-Montfort expedition to the South Andes benefited from the help of specialists such as gabriel de mortillet and Boman, and it brought into focus little-known aspects of South American civilizations, including the Diaguites. A special mention must be made of Ber, who, though still neglected, insisted for the first time upon the need for a contextual approach to collecting Peruvian remains. This list of researchers is far from exhaustive: one could add many other names, among them Nadiallac, Crevaux, and Colpaert in Peru and Pector in Central America.

This intense activity rested, as already mentioned, on a fragile theoretical basis, but it led to some outstanding results, including the organization of the first International Congress of Americanists in Nancy, France, in 1875. This meeting proved to be such a success that three more congresses were held in Paris before 1900. The Société des Américanistes recruited old hands such as Rosny, Hamy, Lejéal, and Nadaillac, as well as newcomers such as Cordier, Capitan, Rivet, and even Maspéro, and the duke of Loubat. The duke sponsored field research, either by French or foreign scholars (Seler, Holmes, and Saville), and he created the first academic position, at the Collège de France, where Lejéal and Beuchat had a chance to teach. Unfortunately, these changes came too late, and in the field, French explorers were confronted with trained archaeologists from other countries such as max uhle, Alfred Tozzer, and manuel gamio. Exploration gave way to scientific research, and at the creation of the first school of archaeology in Mexico in 1910, only one Frenchman was involved—Enguerrand, who stands as the perfect symbol of this new situation. French explorers lost touch with current trends and the study of the Americas was no longer deemed fashionable. When World War I exploded in 1914, most French scholars in archaeology were either dead or retired, and the Americanization of American studies was on its way.

1914–1960: A Collapse?

If we follow Willey and Sabloff’s chronological scheme, the period between 1914 and 1960 was characterized by the stratigraphic revolution. Everywhere in America, chronologies were sought after, excavations were conducted by huge teams, and at the end of the period, the use of new techniques such as aerial photography and radiocarbon dating allowed for the elaboration of secure aereal chronological charts. Although similar progress occurred in France itself, with some influence on this evolution,