Collections d’ethnographie et musées d’archéologie: entre désaveux muséologiques et jalons de l’histoire des sciences de l’Homme

The fact that ethnographical collections, often ancient, are preserved in archaeological museums nowadays might not be obvious. The material culture of living societies is not, indeed, the priority of archaeologists, who are mainly interested in societies of the past. However, a museological and historical approach makes it possible to study these collections and highlight their differential management according to institutions and epistemological developments in the human sciences, since the middle of the 19th century.