diff --git a/swh/model/from_disk.py b/swh/model/from_disk.py
--- a/swh/model/from_disk.py
+++ b/swh/model/from_disk.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import enum
 import os
 import stat
+from pathlib import PosixPath
 
 import attr
 from typing import List, Optional
@@ -243,6 +244,20 @@
     return named_filter
 
 
+def ignore_path(path, exclude_paths) -> bool:
+    """Check if the given path has one of the parents in exclude_paths
+    """
+    if exclude_paths is None:
+        return False
+    else:
+        path = PosixPath(path.decode())
+        if set(path.parents).intersection(exclude_paths) \
+           or path in exclude_paths:
+            return True
+        else:
+            return False
+
+
 class Directory(MerkleNode):
     """Representation of a Software Heritage directory as a node in a Merkle Tree.
 
@@ -268,6 +283,7 @@
     @classmethod
     def from_disk(cls, *, path,
                   dir_filter=accept_all_directories,
+                  exclude_paths=None,
                   max_content_length=None):
         """Compute the Software Heritage objects for a given directory tree
 
@@ -275,6 +291,7 @@
           path (bytes): the directory to traverse
           data (bool): whether to add the data to the content objects
           save_path (bool): whether to add the path to the content objects
+          exclude_paths (set[PosixPath]): set of path to ignore
           dir_filter (function): a filter to ignore some directories by
             name or contents. Takes two arguments: dirname and entries, and
             returns True if the directory should be added, False if the
@@ -282,7 +299,6 @@
           max_content_length (Optional[int]): if given, all contents larger
             than this will be skipped.
         """
-
         top_path = path
         dirs = {}
 
@@ -297,7 +313,8 @@
                         path=path, max_content_length=max_content_length)
                     entries[name] = content
                 else:
-                    if dir_filter(name, dirs[path].entries):
+                    if dir_filter(name, dirs[path].entries) \
+                       and not ignore_path(path, exclude_paths):
                         entries[name] = dirs[path]
 
             dirs[root] = cls({'name': os.path.basename(root)})
diff --git a/swh/model/tests/test_from_disk.py b/swh/model/tests/test_from_disk.py
--- a/swh/model/tests/test_from_disk.py
+++ b/swh/model/tests/test_from_disk.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import tarfile
 import tempfile
 import unittest
+from pathlib import PosixPath
 
 from typing import ClassVar, Optional
 
@@ -848,6 +849,23 @@
                          len(self.contents)
                          + 1)
 
+    def test_directory_to_objects_ignore_paths(self):
+        directory = Directory.from_disk(
+            path=self.tmpdir_name,
+            exclude_paths={
+                PosixPath(self.tmpdir_name.decode()+'/contents'),
+                PosixPath(self.tmpdir_name.decode()+'/specials')
+            }
+        )
+
+        self.assertNotIn(b'specials', directory)
+        self.assertNotIn(b'contents', directory)
+        self.assertEqual(len(directory), 2)
+
+        objs = directory.collect()
+
+        self.assertEqual(len(objs['directory']), 4)
+
     def test_directory_entry_order(self):
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as dirname:
             dirname = os.fsencode(dirname)