The Historical Archaeology of Military Sites: Method and TopicClarence Raymond Geier, Lawrence E. Babits, Douglas Dowell Scott, David G. Orr The recent work of anthropologists, historians, and historical archaeologists has changed the very essence of military history. While once preoccupied with great battles and the generals who commanded the armies and employed the tactics, military history has begun to emphasize the importance of the “common man” for interpreting events. As a result, military historians have begun to see military forces and the people serving in them from different perspectives. The Historical Archaeology of Military Sites has encouraged efforts to understand armies as human communities and to address the lives of those who composed them. Tying a group of combatants to the successes and failures of their military commanders leads to a failure to understand such groups as distinct social units and, in some instances, self-supporting societies: structured around a defined social and political hierarchy; regulated by law; needing to be supplied and nurtured; and often at odds with the human community whose lands they occupied, be they those of friend or foe. The Historical Archaeology of Military Sites will afford students, professionals dealing with military sites, and the interested public examples of the latest techniques and proven field methods to aid understanding and conservation of these vital pieces of the world’s heritage. |
Contents
HistoricalArchaeological Methods and david G orr and Julia stEElE | 1 |
Some Recommendations and matthEw b rEEvEs | 11 |
Two Case Studies from the Jacobite | 99 |
Battlefield Archaeology | 123 |
Maritime Archaeology of Naval Battlefields 39 w stEphEn mCbridE and kim a mCbridE | 137 |
A New Challenge for Battlefield Archaeologists | 149 |
Common terms and phrases
accounts actions activities allow American anomaly archaeological army artifacts artillery associated attack battle battlefield battlefield archaeology British building bullets camp century Civil command Confederate construction contained cover cultural defensive designed detailed documents enemy engagement evidence examined example excavation feet field FiGurE fire forces Fort fortification forts front ground groups Hill historical Housatonic human Hunley identified important indicated individual interpretation Jacobite land landscape magnetic maps material memorials ment metal metal detector methods military moved natural naval Nez Perce officers patterns Photograph position record recovered redoubts regiment remains reported result River road Russian served ship side soldiers sources South structure survey tent tion trench troops understanding Union United Virginia wall World wreck