The idea for this volume emerged from critical self-reflection about diverse archaeological practices in a session presented at the 13th European Association of Archaeologists Annual Meeting (Zadar, Croatia, 2007), in particular the conflicting relationship between the ‘mainstream’ and the ‘alternative’. The field of so-called ‘fringe’ or ‘alternative’ archaeology is vast and multifaceted, ranging from pseudoarchaeology, ‘bad’ archaeology practices, conspiracy theories and claims about lost civilizations to extraterrestrial...