Quantitative judgment, description and comparison of color are important contents in cultural relics and archaeology. Color measurement can quickly, accurately and non-destructively obtain the color data on research objects and analyze it to get more information. At present, color measurement has been widely used in the practical work of archaeological science and conservation. This paper combines domestic and foreign literature to review the application and research status of color measurement methods in cultural relics and archaeology. It is found that color measurement can effectively help solve the following problems: determination of the coloring mechanisms and production processes for cultural relics, evaluation of the effect of cleaning cultural relics and measuring the color stability of conservational materials, and analysis of the influence of environment on the color of cultural relics. With improvement and development of colorimetric theories and methods, as well as combination with other analytical techniques and methods, optimized colorimetric measurement conditions can be developed. In addition, the color appearance model of the cultural relics by calculation and processing of color data and the digital color management system will play a greater role in cultural relics and archaeology.