the sciences of antiquity, such as epigraphy (Bayle 1984–5; Gran-Aymerich
1998: 130, 154). They took it upon themselves to undertake excavations,
epigraphic surveys and even reconstruct monuments (Mattingly 1996: 54).
They would also help the members of the commission in theirWeldwork
(Lepetit 1998: 97). In contrast to themselves, the colonizers considered that
the locals were unable to appreciate archaeology. As a Frenchman said in 1862,
Muslims ‘whose ignorance is often mislabelled as imagination’ misunderstood
the importance of the ruins. Thus, as he explained, a Roman triumphal arch
was called ‘the chateau of the evil fairy’ (Malarkey 1984: 147) (forgetting that,
in fact, this was also common in Europe). Arabs were thought to have no
respect for ancestors and no sense of history, partly because Islam as a religion
was considered to stigmatize science (Malarkey 1984: 153, 156).
Classical archaeology and the expansion of the institutionalization
of the past in French Algeria from the 1870sTheinterestintheclassicaleracontinuedtobepredominantafterthe1870s. 13 The
emphasison the Roman past of NorthAfrica seepedinto the generalimagination
connectingpatriotismandarchaeologyandbecomingoneofthemainarguments
for legitimizing European colonization. Many examples would serve to illustrate
this.OnereferstotheFrencharchaeologist,GastonBoissier(1823–1908).In1883
Boissier claimed that ‘impressed and even persuaded by the similarity of our
civilizingtaskwiththatofRome...whosetracesonecanWnd everywhere, these
men[theindigenes]resignedthemselvestoendure...theinheritanceofRome’
(in Mattingly 1996: 50). Rene ́Cagnat (1852–1937), one of the other French
archaeologists with ample experience in North Africa, stated in 1913 that
we can, therefore,... compare our occupation of Algeria and Tunisia of the same
African provinces by the Romans. As they did, we have gloriously conquered the
country. As they did, we have assured the occupation. As they did, we have tried to
transform it to our image and impose civilization... The only diVerence is that we
have done inWfty years what they did in three centuries.
(Mattingly 1996: 54).The comparison between how the relationship between the Romans and the
natives was imagined in Europe and in North Africa is highly revealing. As
Mattingly points out, in continental France archaeologists assumed that the
13 The emphasis on the classical period could also be seen in Libya in the three decades of
Italian governance of the country (1911–47). In the twentieth century the stress on everything
Roman became connected with the rise of fascism (Altekamp 2004), an issue whose discussion
lies beyond the chronological scope of this volume.
268 Colonial Archaeology