ABSTRACT
This book is hoping to reach a readership, as well as those from archaeology and heritage, drawn from those that are involved in mental health research, who might be beginning to learn of the efficacy of heritage-based therapeutic interventions, perhaps through some of the projects involving veterans that have been achieving a significant media profile over the last few years. Readers coming to this book from that perspective are likely to have no first-hand experience of archaeology, though may well have engaged with historic buildings, landscapes, and heritage sites and reflected on their impact. While many of our contributors provide some wonderful examples of the therapeutic benefits of archaeology, this chapter focuses on the discipline itself and introduces its background and basic processes, and offers a personal assessment of the emotional responses that it can still trigger in those of us who work within it.
