In 1980 a special issue of Les nouvelles de l’archéologie dedicated to ethnoarchaeology was released. Published under the direction of Françoise Audouze and Catherine Perlès the issue grouped together the contributions of scientists from various French-speaking and English-speaking countries. My reflections are based on these contributions in order to track the progress made over these last four decades, more particularly in the French-speaking area, and to suggest some orientations for the future.