Classical Antiquity has at last lost its dusty reputation. One of the most fascinating revolutions among scientists, in this field of research, consists of a new interest on the essential part that colour played in the artistic productions of the Greek, Etruscan end Roman worlds. In its volume 48, Techne contributes to this major trend with an in-depth special issue on "The Colours of the Antique", edited by Brigitte bourgeois. It corresponds to a large extent to the publication of the 8th International Round Table on Polychromy in Ancient Sculpture and Architecture, held in Paris (C2RMF) in 2016. In thirteen essays, written by the best specialists in the field, the reader will learn about tracking down colours on Greek temples of the Archaic and Hellenistic times, as well as on marble sculpture and bronze statuary (with insights on the important and tricky issue of modern experimental colour restitution). The table of contents also includes latest researches on the «lost art» of Greek painting, known through rare vestiges (archaic wooden painted panels found in the Pitsa Cave, or painted limestone funerary stelai from Hellenistic Alexandria). In this hymn to ancient colour, richly illustrated, the reader will recognize the interdisciplinary spirit of Techne, combining archaeological, historical and scientific data, in order to illuminate how much these ancient cultures loved colour and beautifully expressed it.

Finally, in the Varia section, two essays broaden up the the approach with a contribution on the use of cobalt blue in Pharaonic Egypt during the XVIII^th Dynasty, and another one on a Gandhara polychrome stucco head of Buddha, held in the Victoria and Albert Museum.