From the parlours of Victorian England to the deserts of Saudi Arabia, from mere hobby to real science, 19th-century women were throwing off the shackles of their sex and exploring the newly respected work of archaeology. As Amanda Adams recounts in her lovely book Ladies of the Field, these women (seven in particular) laughed at convention and opted against all odds for lives of adventure, intellectual stimulation and important discovery. In her introduction, excerpted here, she introduces us to these intrepid women, each of whom we meet in detail throughout the rest of the book. Inspirations and role models all.