Over twenty years ago my mother, Bonnie Ashworth, passed along to me an old, worn ledger book. The book contained poetry written over one hundred and fifty years ago by her great-great-grandfather and passed down to her by her Grandmother, Caroline Billingham Bentz (Grandpa MurphyÕs granddaughter.) The family possessed several pictures of the author, but no one in the clan could remember precisely who this lyrical ancestor was. He was known to the family as simply ÒGrandpa Murphy.Ó The acquisition of this family heirloom marked the beginning of my long search for the identity of the mysterious Grandpa Murphy, and my family history in general; a search that would ultimately lead me to a small historical society basement on the Northern Neck of Virginia where many of my questions began to be answered.

Addressing a field that has been dominated by astronomers, physicists, engineers, and computer scientists, the contributors to this collection raise questions that may have been overlooked by physical scientists about the ease of establishing meaningful communication with an extraterrestrial intelligence. These scholars are grappling with some of the enormous challenges that will face humanity if an information-rich signal emanating from another world is detected. By drawing on issues at the core of contemporary archaeology and anthropology, we can be much better prepared for contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, should that day ever come.