Archaeology is a subject of much popular interest, with devotees ranging from armchair enthusiasts to tourists to serious academics. This "Companion" features essays from 27 of the world's leading authorities on different types of archaeology and aims to define the field and describe what it means to be an archaeologist. It shows that contemporary archaeology is an astonishingly broad activity, with many contrasting specializations and ways of approaching the material record of past societies. The volume introduces readers to a range of archaeologists: those who devote themselves to the philosophy or the sociology of archaeology, those who see archaeology as politics or as anthropology, and those who contend that the essence of the discipline is a hard science. Among these experts are those who read the past through art, linguistics, or the built environment, and those professionals who present the past to the public through heritage management and museums.