This volume contains 15 papers exploring the ways in which varying traditions of development-led archaeology across north-west Europe influence, or are reflected in, variations in archaeological patterning relating to human behaviour in the past. The volume stems from a round table meeting entitled "Prehistory and development-led archaeology in northwestern Europe", held at the University of Leicester in late November 2009, which was, itself, associated with the ongoing research project "The prehistory of Britain and Ireland in their European Context", led by Richard Bradley and Colin Haselgrove. This project aims to reassess the relationship between Britain and Ireland and the near Continent from the Neolithic to the late Iron Age, drawing particularly on the results of recent development-led excavations.