diff --git a/docs/settings.rst b/docs/settings.rst
index 85679eb5..365eb24f 100644
--- a/docs/settings.rst
+++ b/docs/settings.rst
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ Setting name              what it does ?
                           (no rss)
 `CSS_FILE`                To specify the CSS file you want to load, if it's not
                           the default one ('main.css')
+`REVERSE_ARCHIVE_ORDER`   Reverse the archives order. (True makes it in
+                          descending order: the newer first)
 =======================   =======================================================
 
 Themes
diff --git a/pelican/generators.py b/pelican/generators.py
index 11f964fb..d6077408 100644
--- a/pelican/generators.py
+++ b/pelican/generators.py
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ class ArticlesGenerator(Generator):
         # sort the articles by date
         self.articles.sort(key=attrgetter('date'), reverse=True)
         self.dates = list(self.articles)
-        self.dates.sort(key=attrgetter('date'))
+        self.dates.sort(key=attrgetter('date'), reverse=self.context['REVERSE_ARCHIVE_ORDER'])
         # and generate the output :)
         self._update_context(('articles', 'dates', 'tags', 'categories'))
 
diff --git a/pelican/settings.py b/pelican/settings.py
index 88d2bde6..bf5afacd 100644
--- a/pelican/settings.py
+++ b/pelican/settings.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ _DEFAULT_CONFIG = {'PATH': None,
                    'DEFAULT_CATEGORY': 'misc',
                    'FALLBACK_ON_FS_DATE': True,
                    'CSS_FILE': 'main.css',
+                   'REVERSE_ARCHIVE_ORDER': False,
                   }
 
 def read_settings(filename):