The Intendant's Palace site is a complex archaeological site that has witnessed many simultaneous and successive occupations. It is considered to be a place of major importance in the history of New France, particularly because it contains the remains of Intendant Jean Talon's brewery and the Intendant's Palace.

Between 1982 and 2016, Université Laval held 25 archaeological field schools on the Intendant's Palace site and the City of Québec conducted two full-scale excavations there. This book is based on an invaluable corpus of data and a large archaeological collection that is one of the richest in North America on the history of New France. The book brings the site back to life by examining its architectural features, artefacts and plant and animal remains from archaeological and historical perspectives. In this way, it reveals the far-reaching ties that existed between the site's occupants and the natural environment, the city and the rest of the world.