An alternative account of the history of archaeology in the nineteenth century

pt. I. The early archaeology of the great civilizations. Antiquities and political prestige in the early modern era ; The archaeology of the French Revolution ; Archaeology and the 1820 liberal revolution : the past in the independence of Greece and Latin American nations

pt. II. The archaeology of informal imperialism. Informal imperialism in Europe and the Ottoman Empire : the consolidation of the mythical roots of the West ; Biblical archaeology ; Informal imperialism beyond Europe : the archaeology of the great civilizations in Latin America, China, and Japan

pt. III. Colonial archaeology. Colonialism and monumental archaeology in South and Southeast Asia ; Classical versus Islamic Antiquities in colonial archaeology : the Russian empire and French North Africa ; Colonialism and the archaeology of the primitive

pt. IV. National archaeology in Europe. The early search for a national past in Europe (1789-1820) ; Archaeology and the liberal revolutions (c. 1820-1860) : nation, race, and language in the study of Europe's past ; Evolution and positivism (c. 1860-1900)

Conclusions.