These papers, from three sessions organised by the EAA between 1999 and 2001 or from the XIVth Congress of the UPSPP in 2001, have been gathered together as an anecdote to Anglo-American theoretical approaches to archaeology. Their aim is to bring methodology back to the fore, to test the solidity of the data collected from the field before it is manipulated by the ivory towers' of theory. The 39 papers, which include detailed analyses as well as brief abstracts, are divided into ten sections: defining the problem; the state of the art; theoretical perspectives; single context planning and the MoLAS system; exporting single context planning; critical perspectives; recording stratigraphy; a question of scale; startigraphy and geoarchaeology; looking to the future. Excavation methodologies are examined from across the world and cover sites from all periods including Iron Age Estonia, Russian peat sites, Newgate Street Prison in London, Irish burnt mounds, German and POlish archaeology, Swedish urban archaeology, Palaeolithic France and Alaska.