The adventure of archaeology has distant origins but developed mainly from the Renaissance. Through old and unpublished documents (archives, photograhies, drawings, objects of excavations, etc.), it is the evolution of this discipline that will be traced, from the quest for relics to the invention of aerial archaeology, through the expedition of Egypt, the first excavations in France and around the Mediterranean, without forgetting to evoke the memory of the great archaeologists and institutions who contributed to forge this scientific discipline, but also our collective imagination.