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Collecting and Provenance Studies have become a major field of Art History and Cultural History, as well as an important issue for museums. However working on the trajectory of ancient artifacts bears some specific challenges. Recent researches about the modern history of ancient objects, especially those excavated during the 18th and 19th centuries, has brought to light new problematics especially through the exploitation of unpublished and hitherto underestimated sources (archives, drawings, contemporary publications, etc). These sources make it possible to re-evaluate site specific material, to better understand the selection at work during excavations (what was discard and what was pushed forward), to reconsider radically the notions of fake and authenticity. The projects introducing digital methods also lead to new orientations by exploring large (or complex) sets of data; by developing new tools that not only illustrate but produce knowledge; by offering to put together data from different sources and by proposing visualizations for new public.

This panel seeks contributions that explore the different ways the studies on modern lives of ancient objects can produce new knowledge and new perspectives. We encourage submissions focusing on projects that shed new light on understudied topics, that link modern and ancient history and that use new sources and/or new methodological tools (especially digital). By bringing together scholars working in various fields, we hope to initiate conversations about innovative methodologies, theoretical models, and complementary approaches for the study of antiquities.