Pub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/15740773.2020.1859907
J. Adeney
ABSTRACT The defence of West Australia Hill was a day-long encounter between 30 West Australians and 300-400 Boers during the South African War (1899-1902). An archaeological survey to test the applicability of Battlefield Patterning Analysis (PBA: as used on the Battle of Little Big Horn site, Montana, USA) was conducted to determine how the West Australians maintained tactical superiority throughout the encounter. The locations of fired cartridges, artillery artefacts and archival evidence showed that the successful all-day defence was due to good tactical positioning on West Australia Hill and fire discipline, aided by accurate British artillery. Dynamic Patterning, a component of PBA, was developed further by the use of two innovative methods of recording spent ammunition characteristics: off-centredness of firing pin indentations, and marks within firing pin indentations of the fired cartridges. The ammunition finds for both Australian and Boers soldiers demonstrated the application of BPA on 20th century battlefields.
{"title":"‘Our shooting was far superior to theirs’: an archaeological investigation of the defence of West Australia Hill during the South African War (1899-1902)","authors":"J. Adeney","doi":"10.1080/15740773.2020.1859907","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15740773.2020.1859907","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The defence of West Australia Hill was a day-long encounter between 30 West Australians and 300-400 Boers during the South African War (1899-1902). An archaeological survey to test the applicability of Battlefield Patterning Analysis (PBA: as used on the Battle of Little Big Horn site, Montana, USA) was conducted to determine how the West Australians maintained tactical superiority throughout the encounter. The locations of fired cartridges, artillery artefacts and archival evidence showed that the successful all-day defence was due to good tactical positioning on West Australia Hill and fire discipline, aided by accurate British artillery. Dynamic Patterning, a component of PBA, was developed further by the use of two innovative methods of recording spent ammunition characteristics: off-centredness of firing pin indentations, and marks within firing pin indentations of the fired cartridges. The ammunition finds for both Australian and Boers soldiers demonstrated the application of BPA on 20th century battlefields.","PeriodicalId":53987,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Conflict Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15740773.2020.1859907","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48511677","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-02DOI: 10.1080/15740773.2019.1732062
Ryan K. McNutt, E. Jones
ABSTRACT Camp Lawton is a Confederate camp for Union PoWs in Georgia, USA. Built in 1864, inhabited for six weeks, and abandoned in advance of Sherman’s march to the sea, it is the focus of an ongoing research project. One of the key questions, yet unresolved, concerning Civil War POW camps is the lack of PoW access to essential supplies. Historical debates rage over the intentionality of these depravations, with a recurring argument asserting a universal privation, for guards and PoWS. The archaeology of internment camps can end this debate. Presented here are interpretations from recent fieldwork via an unlikely source: the machine-cut nail, analysed as a proxy in the absence of traditional evidence of subsistence and supply. Present in large numbers in PoW and guard areas, but clearly not architectural, this paper explores a narrative where nails, and the purpose for which they were put to, were not wanting.
{"title":"For want of a nail? Proxies for analysing POW and guard access to supplies at a Confederate prison camp","authors":"Ryan K. McNutt, E. Jones","doi":"10.1080/15740773.2019.1732062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15740773.2019.1732062","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Camp Lawton is a Confederate camp for Union PoWs in Georgia, USA. Built in 1864, inhabited for six weeks, and abandoned in advance of Sherman’s march to the sea, it is the focus of an ongoing research project. One of the key questions, yet unresolved, concerning Civil War POW camps is the lack of PoW access to essential supplies. Historical debates rage over the intentionality of these depravations, with a recurring argument asserting a universal privation, for guards and PoWS. The archaeology of internment camps can end this debate. Presented here are interpretations from recent fieldwork via an unlikely source: the machine-cut nail, analysed as a proxy in the absence of traditional evidence of subsistence and supply. Present in large numbers in PoW and guard areas, but clearly not architectural, this paper explores a narrative where nails, and the purpose for which they were put to, were not wanting.","PeriodicalId":53987,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Conflict Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2019-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15740773.2019.1732062","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45630729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-02DOI: 10.1080/15740773.2020.1729614
Njabulo Chipangura, Keith K. Silika
ABSTRACT Within the last 50 years, present day Zimbabwe, (Figure 1), formerly Rhodesia, a Southern African country, has gone through various pogroms resulting in the death of over 50,000 people in total both within and outside the country. The massacres consist of the Liberation War (1966–1979); political violence characterized by every election since 1980; the Matabeleland Democide (1982–1987); and the diamond conflict in Marange, Eastern Zimbabwe (2006–2018). These various episodes of violence have produced a myriad of human body depositional sites which include mine shafts, mass graves at schools and hospitals, burials at detention centres, pit latrines, and caves. This paper will analyse the disagreements and antagonism between professional archaeologists and vernacular exhumers that emerged during various limited exhumation of mass graves within the country. The paper will conclude by offering avenues of approaches to mass graves exhumation as the material evidence might in future, subject to judicial inquiries, contribute towards truth telling and peace and reconciliation.
{"title":"Contested archaeological approaches to mass grave exhumations in Zimbabwe","authors":"Njabulo Chipangura, Keith K. Silika","doi":"10.1080/15740773.2020.1729614","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15740773.2020.1729614","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Within the last 50 years, present day Zimbabwe, (Figure 1), formerly Rhodesia, a Southern African country, has gone through various pogroms resulting in the death of over 50,000 people in total both within and outside the country. The massacres consist of the Liberation War (1966–1979); political violence characterized by every election since 1980; the Matabeleland Democide (1982–1987); and the diamond conflict in Marange, Eastern Zimbabwe (2006–2018). These various episodes of violence have produced a myriad of human body depositional sites which include mine shafts, mass graves at schools and hospitals, burials at detention centres, pit latrines, and caves. This paper will analyse the disagreements and antagonism between professional archaeologists and vernacular exhumers that emerged during various limited exhumation of mass graves within the country. The paper will conclude by offering avenues of approaches to mass graves exhumation as the material evidence might in future, subject to judicial inquiries, contribute towards truth telling and peace and reconciliation.","PeriodicalId":53987,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Conflict Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2019-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15740773.2020.1729614","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43557591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-02DOI: 10.1080/15740773.2020.1726124
Derwin Gregory
ABSTRACT In September 2017, an archaeological excavation at RAF Thorpe Abbotts (also known as Station 139) uncovered 7 identification ‘dog’ tags belonging to airmen of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF). It is the thesis of this article that these were purposefully buried by individuals within the 100th Bomb Group (Heavy) as acts of remembrance. Alongside the dog tags were a number of other artefacts, including coins, bottles, and a canteen cup. These likely formed the material culture of self-developed grieving rituals established by the primary group responsible for the deposition of the dog tags.
{"title":"Vernacular memorialization in the military: personal acts of remembrance at RAF Thorpe Abbotts","authors":"Derwin Gregory","doi":"10.1080/15740773.2020.1726124","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15740773.2020.1726124","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In September 2017, an archaeological excavation at RAF Thorpe Abbotts (also known as Station 139) uncovered 7 identification ‘dog’ tags belonging to airmen of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF). It is the thesis of this article that these were purposefully buried by individuals within the 100th Bomb Group (Heavy) as acts of remembrance. Alongside the dog tags were a number of other artefacts, including coins, bottles, and a canteen cup. These likely formed the material culture of self-developed grieving rituals established by the primary group responsible for the deposition of the dog tags.","PeriodicalId":53987,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Conflict Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2019-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15740773.2020.1726124","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44050742","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-02DOI: 10.1080/15740773.2019.1730074
Julian Bennett
ABSTRACT The Imperial German Army (Deutsches Herr) was unique among the combatants in World War One (WW1) in issuing to a proportion of its soldiers a bayonet whose blade back was fashioned as a saw. A common belief developed quickly among the Allies that these sawback bayonets were weapons specifically intended to inflict a particularly vicious type of wound. After setting out the origins of this class of weapon and explaining their real purpose, the two main types of sawback bayonet available to the Deutsches Heer during WW1 are then concisely described. Its reputation as a weapon of especial barbarity is outlined, along with an overview of bayonet use in combat between the mid-nineteenth century and 1918, as evidenced by official sources, highlighting the lack of any specific contemporary references to the use of or the wounds caused by sawback bayonets. The article concludes by detailing the contemporary German sources relevant to its withdrawal from service use in 1917.
{"title":"‘Un engin de torture, une baïonnette à crochets; une arme blanche déshonorée’: an historical-archaeological evaluation of the Sawback bayonets of the Deutsches Heer","authors":"Julian Bennett","doi":"10.1080/15740773.2019.1730074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15740773.2019.1730074","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Imperial German Army (Deutsches Herr) was unique among the combatants in World War One (WW1) in issuing to a proportion of its soldiers a bayonet whose blade back was fashioned as a saw. A common belief developed quickly among the Allies that these sawback bayonets were weapons specifically intended to inflict a particularly vicious type of wound. After setting out the origins of this class of weapon and explaining their real purpose, the two main types of sawback bayonet available to the Deutsches Heer during WW1 are then concisely described. Its reputation as a weapon of especial barbarity is outlined, along with an overview of bayonet use in combat between the mid-nineteenth century and 1918, as evidenced by official sources, highlighting the lack of any specific contemporary references to the use of or the wounds caused by sawback bayonets. The article concludes by detailing the contemporary German sources relevant to its withdrawal from service use in 1917.","PeriodicalId":53987,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Conflict Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2019-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15740773.2019.1730074","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43794151","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-02DOI: 10.1080/15740773.2019.1735218
Mirja Arnshav
ABSTRACT During the Second World War, a large number of guns were brought to Sweden by refugees escaping the occupation powers of the eastern Baltic countries. Most people had very limited space for bringing belongings with them, but small arms were apparently highly prioritised when setting out – yet, at the same time, they were usually disposed of in the course of the crossing. Informed by Latours’ thoughts on hybrid actors, this paper explores the relationship between humans and arms during the escape across the Baltic Sea in 1943–45. It is shown that although they were seldom fired, the physical presence of these arms directly affected human action, perception and identities, and that it did so in different ways during different phases of the crossing.
{"title":"‘The sea shall have our weapons’: small arms and forced migration across the Baltic Sea during the Second World War","authors":"Mirja Arnshav","doi":"10.1080/15740773.2019.1735218","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15740773.2019.1735218","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT During the Second World War, a large number of guns were brought to Sweden by refugees escaping the occupation powers of the eastern Baltic countries. Most people had very limited space for bringing belongings with them, but small arms were apparently highly prioritised when setting out – yet, at the same time, they were usually disposed of in the course of the crossing. Informed by Latours’ thoughts on hybrid actors, this paper explores the relationship between humans and arms during the escape across the Baltic Sea in 1943–45. It is shown that although they were seldom fired, the physical presence of these arms directly affected human action, perception and identities, and that it did so in different ways during different phases of the crossing.","PeriodicalId":53987,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Conflict Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2019-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15740773.2019.1735218","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49427065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-02DOI: 10.1080/15740773.2019.1737455
I. Banks
The papers in this double issue of the Journal of Conflict Archaeology brings to publication material from across the world, with contributions relating to Europe, the UK, America, Africa and Centr...
《冲突考古杂志》这两期的论文带来了来自世界各地的出版材料,其中涉及欧洲、英国、美国、非洲和中。。。
{"title":"Editorial JCA 14.2&3","authors":"I. Banks","doi":"10.1080/15740773.2019.1737455","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15740773.2019.1737455","url":null,"abstract":"The papers in this double issue of the Journal of Conflict Archaeology brings to publication material from across the world, with contributions relating to Europe, the UK, America, Africa and Centr...","PeriodicalId":53987,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Conflict Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2019-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15740773.2019.1737455","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44226001","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-02DOI: 10.1080/15740773.2019.1730084
Camilla Damlund, Sophie M. McMillan
ABSTRACT This is a review of the 6th Postgraduate Conflict Archaeology conference held in Glasgow in October of 2019. It summarizes the presentations and keynotes delivered at the two-day conference, and reflects on the benefit of postgraduate and ECR specific conferences, the gender disparity within the field of conflict archaeology, and the importance of a supportive network of colleagues.
{"title":"Review of the 6th PGCA conference","authors":"Camilla Damlund, Sophie M. McMillan","doi":"10.1080/15740773.2019.1730084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15740773.2019.1730084","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This is a review of the 6th Postgraduate Conflict Archaeology conference held in Glasgow in October of 2019. It summarizes the presentations and keynotes delivered at the two-day conference, and reflects on the benefit of postgraduate and ECR specific conferences, the gender disparity within the field of conflict archaeology, and the importance of a supportive network of colleagues.","PeriodicalId":53987,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Conflict Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2019-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15740773.2019.1730084","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45725352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-02DOI: 10.1080/15740773.2019.1731144
Emily Boak
ABSTRACT Emerging from research with the Afghan Heritage Mapping Partnership, a multi-year project using satellite imagery to detect, record and manage archaeological heritage, this paper examines the potentials of remote-sensing to not only monitor archaeological material culture, but also contemporary materiality as it is violently (re)assembled through conflict. Through systematic remote-sensed archaeological survey using diachronic imagery in Kandahar, Afghanistan, this work expands archaeological understanding of an under-surveyed region while exploring the impact of the region’s expansive military infrastructural footprint on cultural heritage. Further, this research considers the long history of landscapes of control and successive military occupations. Remote survey allows for continued generation of archaeological data during conflict, thereby enabling more thorough heritage management. Finally, this survey demonstrates that, although remote aerial technologies have been criticized as tools of violence, surveillance and control, satellite imagery can be used analytically to generate new understandings of and challenges to military infrastructural reach.
{"title":"From conflict archaeology to archaeologies of conflict: remote survey in Kandahar, Afghanistan","authors":"Emily Boak","doi":"10.1080/15740773.2019.1731144","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15740773.2019.1731144","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Emerging from research with the Afghan Heritage Mapping Partnership, a multi-year project using satellite imagery to detect, record and manage archaeological heritage, this paper examines the potentials of remote-sensing to not only monitor archaeological material culture, but also contemporary materiality as it is violently (re)assembled through conflict. Through systematic remote-sensed archaeological survey using diachronic imagery in Kandahar, Afghanistan, this work expands archaeological understanding of an under-surveyed region while exploring the impact of the region’s expansive military infrastructural footprint on cultural heritage. Further, this research considers the long history of landscapes of control and successive military occupations. Remote survey allows for continued generation of archaeological data during conflict, thereby enabling more thorough heritage management. Finally, this survey demonstrates that, although remote aerial technologies have been criticized as tools of violence, surveillance and control, satellite imagery can be used analytically to generate new understandings of and challenges to military infrastructural reach.","PeriodicalId":53987,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Conflict Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2019-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15740773.2019.1731144","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43943020","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}