Urban archaeology can be difficult, dangerous and expensive, yet nowhere is archaeological evidence so concentrated and so vulnerable as underneath our towns and cities. The redevelopment in town centres has produced many of the discoveries of the last 20 years and much of the evidence here derives from recent urban excavations. From the Roman citizens who built to last, and who were responsible for so many of Europe's most durable remains, to the tenement builders of the Middle Ages, the author surveys a period of 1500 years of urban development. He explains the character of urban deposits and how their excavation throws light on the economic and domestic situations of ordinary citizens in Roman, Saxon and medieval times. The remains found, which vary from grave goods and scraps of leather and pottery, to rotting posts and surviving stone buildings, show how each version of town life was different. The work is aimed at both the layman and the student and the author offers controversial interpretations, especially of the Anglo-Saxon period.