I am fascinated by the cross-disciplinary, indeed trans-disciplinary, character and scope of archaeology. Here, I am putting the finishing touches on a co-edited manuscript of conversations exploring the ‘states’ of archaeology with Bill Rathje and Michael Shanks entitled Conversations through Archaeology. Conversations is a series of provocative discussions with 21 key archaeological practitioners, Sue Alcock, Lewis Binford, Victor Buchli, John Cherry, Meg Conkey, George Cowgill, Ian Hodder, Kristian Kristiansen, Mark Leone, Randy McGuire, Lynn Meskell, Adrian Praetzellis, Mary Praetzellis, Colin Renfrew, Michael Schiffer, Alain Schnapp, Ruth Tringham, Patty Jo Watson, and Alyson Wylie: all attend to a broad range of questions relating to the current shape of archaeology, where it has been, where it is, and where it may be heading. My introduction to the book unpacks these questions and accentuates the anatomy of the discipline almost 35 years after David Clarke’s famous sketch of archaeology and its loss of innocence.