This volume had its origins in the second Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference held in 1992 at Bradford, which followed the ethos of the first conference: an essentially egalitarian arena for discussion of, and fighting over, the introduction and application of theory in Roman archaeology. Accepting the need for explicit awareness of theory in Roman archaeology, the contributors get on with the business of showing how a wide variety of perspectives and intellectual approaches offer new insights or alternative interpretations of a range of data. This, the second volume on theoretical Roman archaeology, surely demonstrates not only the enthusiasm generated by new ideas but something of the intellectual rigour required to use them.