Some people have been calling for a national strategy for Welsh archaeology for some time now and it seems that the meeting from which this volume derives has already had a positive effect to that end. These 24 papers that form the Proceedings of the IFA Wales/Cymru Conference, held at Aberystwyth in 2001, reflect the `open forum' debates on issues of research strategies and policy, as well as presenting thematic papers on particular periods and/or approaches to Welsh archaeology. The overall aim is to bring together commercial, curatorial, academic and amateur interests and encourage co-operation and consultation between all parties.