In Experiencing the Past Michael Shanks presents an animated exploration of the character of archaeology and reclaims the sentiment and feeling which are so often lost in purely academic approaches.

Introduction; Prelude: The Visit; Part 1 Archaeological Method; Chapter 1 Trees and Gardens; Part 2 Archaeological Interests; Chapter 2 Desire and Metaphor; Chapter 3 Perfume and Violence; Part 3 The Encounter with the Past; Chapter 4 What is the Archaeological Past?; Chapter 5 Wallington Hall; Chapter 6 Experience and the Past; Chapter 7 Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland; Part 4 Working Archaeology; Chapter 8 The Craft of Archaeology; Chapter 9 An Archaeological Poetics; Chapter 10 Death and the Domestic;