There are many, well established approaches to the study of art history: anthropology, psychology and sociology among them. However, despite the discipline's longstanding interest in it we do not readily recognize an archaeology of art. This book attempts to combat the marginalization of art in archaeological enquiry placing it firmly in the mainstream and recognizing its crucial role in our understanding of the past in the present. Employing a range of detailed examples from the American Southwest, South Africa, Western Europe and ancient Rome and Egypt and featuring a discursive guide to further reading, this book offers an accessible entrance to a uniquely archaeological approach to this important area of human activity.