A phantasmagorical journey in the realm of shadows. An original and documented approach to the literature of H.P. Lovecraft and the archaeology of the late 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th. Lovecraft’s poetics, as well as his oneiric philosophy about the sense of life and the meaning of the past for humanity, are in this essay a way to reflect about the role of archaeology at the moment. Through recurring topics in the narrative of this Providence notorious writer, the author will “excavate” the terrifying city of R’lyeh.