diff --git a/django/views/generic/date_based.py b/django/views/generic/date_based.py
index 5dc9892894..b467efdd75 100644
--- a/django/views/generic/date_based.py
+++ b/django/views/generic/date_based.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import datetime, time
 
 def archive_index(request, app_label, module_name, date_field, num_latest=15,
                   template_name=None, template_loader=template_loader,
-                  extra_lookup_kwargs={}, extra_context={}):
+                  extra_lookup_kwargs={}, extra_context={}, allow_empty=False):
     """
     Generic top-level archive of date-based objects.
 
@@ -23,10 +23,10 @@ def archive_index(request, app_label, module_name, date_field, num_latest=15,
     lookup_kwargs = {'%s__lte' % date_field: datetime.datetime.now()}
     lookup_kwargs.update(extra_lookup_kwargs)
     date_list = getattr(mod, "get_%s_list" % date_field)('year', **lookup_kwargs)[::-1]
-    if not date_list:
+    if not date_list and not allow_empty:
         raise Http404("No %s.%s available" % (app_label, module_name))
 
-    if num_latest:
+    if date_list and num_latest:
         lookup_kwargs.update({
             'limit': num_latest,
             'order_by': ('-' + date_field,),
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ def archive_month(request, year, month, app_label, module_name, date_field,
 
 def archive_day(request, year, month, day, app_label, module_name, date_field,
                 month_format='%b', day_format='%d', template_name=None,
-                template_loader=template_loader, extra_lookup_kwargs={}, 
+                template_loader=template_loader, extra_lookup_kwargs={},
                 extra_context={}, allow_empty=False):
     """
     Generic daily archive view.
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ def archive_today(request, **kwargs):
 def object_detail(request, year, month, day, app_label, module_name, date_field,
                   month_format='%b', day_format='%d', object_id=None, slug=None,
                   slug_field=None, template_name=None, template_name_field=None,
-                  template_loader=template_loader, extra_lookup_kwargs={}, 
+                  template_loader=template_loader, extra_lookup_kwargs={},
                   extra_context={}):
     """
     Generic detail view from year/month/day/slug or year/month/day/id structure.
diff --git a/docs/generic_views.txt b/docs/generic_views.txt
index 16a3c2d5bc..d196d2cf96 100644
--- a/docs/generic_views.txt
+++ b/docs/generic_views.txt
@@ -135,9 +135,21 @@ arguments:
 The date-based generic functions are:
 
 ``archive_index``
-    A top-level index page showing the "latest" objects. Has an optional
-    argument, ``num_latest``, which is the number of items to display on the
-    page (defaults to 15).
+    A top-level index page showing the "latest" objects.
+
+    Takes the following optional arguments:
+
+        =======================  =================================================
+        Argument                 Description
+        =======================  =================================================
+        ``num_latest``           The number of items to display on the page.
+                                 Defaults to 15.
+
+        ``allow_empty``          **New in Django development version.**
+                                 If ``False`` and there are no objects to display,
+                                 the view will raise a 404 instead of displaying
+                                 an empty index page. ``False`` is default.
+        =======================  =================================================
 
     Uses the template ``app_label/module_name_archive`` by default.