This massive volume, the proceedings of an international conference in Verona in 2005, reasseses the work of S.A. Semonov, the Soviet archaeologist and pioneer of the functional analysis. The papers demonstrate both the ways in which Semonov's theories have been developed in the forty years since the publication in English of his seminal work Prehistoric Technology, and the wide range of applications for which they have been used. In particular they offer insights into current practice in Russian archaeology.