The four themes of seafaring and voyaging, colonization and abandonment, human ecology, and social interaction are explored in detail in the papers in this volume using data from the Pacific, the Caribbean, the North Sea and the Mediterranean. These papers, both individually and collectively, demonstrate why island archaeology remains a vibrant and relevant part of archaeological discourse. Clearly, islands are neither peripheral nor isolates in the context of their diverse histories, nor are they peripheral in the context of their contribution to archaeological thought.