Modern conflict archaeology

Dit artikel beschrijft de eerste stappen in het project Moluks Erfgoed, een archeologisch onderzoek naar de sporen van het conflict tussen de Molukse Nederlanders en de Nederlandse Staat (zie ook Wijnen, verwacht 2020).  Het project werd snel na aanvang geconfronteerd met ethische dilemma’s die in de discussie worden toegelicht.

Standing at over a million men strong, the Royal Artillery was larger than the Royal Navy during the First World War; representing, by 1916, almost a quarter of all British soldiers serving on the Western Front. In the course of a war hallmarked by its industrial nature and scale, artillery evolved to become the premier killing arm, responsible for more than 50% of all casualties (Bailey 2004: xviii). A “mediator of change on many levels” (Crawford 2009: 8), field guns and heavy artillery pieces also helped to reshape Flanders’ fields, to leave an enduring mark on the landscape which resonates, via the medium of the annual harvest of unexploded ordnance, to the present day.

Recognised for their ability to destroy, neutralise, harass or suppress, the guns also provided the war with an unnatural ‘heartbeat’; with artillery’s fire attuned to the conflict’s industrial tempo; each gun battery a mobile factory designed to efficiently transform live artillery rounds into empty brass shell-cases, with human beings subordinated as ‘gun numbers’ to the greater needs of attritional science and technology.

Taking a “multidisciplinary, anthropologically informed” approach (Saunders 2012: iix), and drawing upon memoirs, letters and war diaries, contemporary art and photographic images as sources of primary evidence, this paper focuses on a hitherto unexplored dimension of the Great War to explore the sensorial and experiential impact of the conflict on the gunners who served the most prolific British artillery piece of the war: the Quick Firing 18-Pounder Field Gun (the ‘18-pdr’).

The development of an independent nuclear deterrent for the United Kingdom was seen as essential by successive post- War Governments. The project required technical innovation, involved thousands of skilled workers and brought rise to substantial social landscapes around the factories that developed, designed and tested the weapon – the Blue Steel Stand-off Nuclear Missile. The testing of the missile (minus the warhead) was undertaken at the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) Boscombe Down. This paper introduces the unique structures connected with this test regime, demonstrating that the quest for nuclear weapons was, like the Cold War itself, a national endeavour.

Our article seeks to determine the functions of visual communication design through the lens of modern conflict and public archaeologies. The Battle of Aslıhanlar, which took place in the triangle of the villages of Çal Köy, Allıören, and Yüğlük in Kütahya from 29 to 30 August 1922, was the focus of our experimentation. Our archaeological survey project was carried out in 2013; interviews with local people, a review of the literature available and our observations of local myths and traditions that emerged after the war constitute the basis of our article. We categorized these sources for the project design in order to form a storytelling narrative, so that the viewer could participate in the process of conflict as well as the ongoing research. We foresaw three major challenges while categorizing this complex dataset: equivalence of visual language; variable outputs of the multi-dimensional research methods; and interactivity for creating a live social platform. We responded to thes...

Viimeisen vuosikymmenen kuluessa Lidar-kaukokartoitusaineistoista on tullut eri puolilla maailmaa monille arkeologeille jokapäiväinen työväline. Suomessa Maanmittauslaitoksen avoimet pistepilviaineistot tarjoavat erinomaisen lähtökohdan arkeologisten tutkimusten suunnitteluun ja toteuttamiseen. Arkeologeille korkeusmalliaineisto on ensiarvoisen tärkeää esimerkiksi kivikauden tutkimuksessa ympäristöennallistuksia tehtäessä. Jääkauden jälkeisen isostaattisen maankohoamisen ja vesistöjen pinnanmuutosten takia muinaisrannoilla sijainneet kohteet voivat olla kymmeniä metrejä nykyrantaa korkeammalla. Lisäksi tarkan Lidar-aineiston pohjalta on mahdollista löytää uusia, ennen tuntemattomia muinaisjäännöksiä jo ennen maastoon lähtöä. Esittelen muutaman tapaustutkimuksen avulla millaisissa yhteyksissä minä ja yhteistyökumppanini ovat Lidar-dataa viime vuosina hyödyntäneet, sekä millaisilla algoritmeillä aineistoja on muokattu ja analysoitu. Laserkeilausaineistoja on käytetty jo yli kymmenen vuoden ajan apuna muun muassa omien kenttätöideni ja Metsähallituksen laajojen kulttuuriperintöinventien kohdentamisessa. Käytän tässä esimerkkeinä muutamia kivikautisia kohteita sekä 1900-luvun konfliktiarkeologisia jäänteitä Helsingin seudulla ja Lapissa.

Toisen maailmansodan kulttuuriperintöön liittyvä tutkimushankkeeni tarkastelee monitieteisesti Lapin sota-aikaisiin kohteisiin liittyviä yliluonnollisia ilmiöitä ja maagisia löytöjä. Sotakohteisiin liittyy usein tarinoita erilaisia paranormaaleista ilmiöistä, ja monet näistä hylätyistä paikoista ovat myös ilmapiiriltään hyvin vaikuttavia. Varsinkin vankileirit ja sotasairaalat korostuvat näissä tarinoissa ja kokemuksissa erityisinä kuoleman ja kärsimyksen paikkoina. Kenttätutkimuksissani olen tehnyt monilta kohteilta esinelöytöjä, jotka vaikuttavat liittyvän magiaan ja kansanuskoon. Tällaisia ovat esimerkiksi rakennusten perustuksiin haudatut kengät, puihin tehdyt kaiverrukset sekä poikkeavat luulöydöt. Todennäköisesti nämä esineet liittyvät pahaksi ja traagiseksi koettujen paikkojen rauhoitteluun sodanjälkeisinä vuosina. Vastaavia löytöjä on tehty viime aikoina muiltakin arkeologisilta kohteilta, esimerkiksi Taavetti Lukkarisen hirttopuun juurelta Oulussa. Taavetti Lukkarinen oli viimeinen maassamme hirttämällä kuolemaantuomittu mies. Hän oli auttanut Muurmannin ratatyömaalta ensimmäisen maailmansodan aikana paenneita saksalaisia sotavankeja Suomen Lapin kautta Ruotsiin, ja hänen hirttämisensä vuonna 1916 koettiin paikallisesti epäoikeudenmukaiseksi. Hirttopaikkaan liittyykin vahva kummitteluperinne. Kaivauksissa paikalta paljastui kiinnostavia kansantaikuudesta kertovia löytöjä, kuten luun sisään suljettuja esineitä sekä puuhun kaiverrettuja ristejä. Yliluonnollisiin ilmiöihin liittyen pystytimme syksyllä 2016 Inariin Kankiniemen sota-aikaiselle vankileirille ortodoksiristin sekä järjestimme paikalla siunaus- ja muistotilaisuuden kolttasaamelaisten ortodoksipapin kanssa. Tämä tapahtui arkeologisille kaivauksillemme osallistuneiden vapaaehtoisten aloitteesta. Vapaaehtoiset kaivajamme kokivat kesällä 2016 kohteella käydessään ja sen jälkeen selittämättömiä ilmiöitä, jotka saivat heidät ottamaan yhteyttä paikalliseen pappiin. Erityisesti tämä tapaus herätti minut tarkastelemaan sotakohteita uusista näkökulmista.

Recorded during a RCHME survey of the nearby Carthusian Monastic complex in May 1995, the full extent of
the remaining anti-tank ditch found within Hog Wood had not been documented, with publications and
references to this ditch being seen as limited.
When studying available aerial photographic as well as cartographic evidence, questions were posed with
regard to the extent and location of the anti-tank ditch, in particular the issue as to whether a crop mark on
aerial photograph NMR 15343 No: 30 dated 4 Aug 95 was that of a ditch and not a footpath, as the Ordnance
Survey map had suggested.
Believed to continue, the length of the anti-tank ditch from Hog Wood to the A36 was confirmed by the
vertical aerial photograph RAF/3G/TUD /UK/25 No: 5166 Dated 14 Jan 46.
Concluding that the location of a diagonal crop mark seen on the aerial photograph was indeed that of a ditch
and not a footpath, to verify this notion further, a geophysical survey was completed on site.
Using a fluxgate gradiometer FM256 and a resistance meter RM15, eight 20m x 20m were surveyed, verifying
as a result that the ditch does continue, running south-easterly in a diagonal direction from the southern end of
Hog Wood, towards the main A36 road.
Linked to the surviving section of AT ditch within Hog Wood, a measured earthwork survey was completed
using an Electronic Total Station (GTS–210 Series) instrument and taped offsets from a control framework of
eight points.
Displaying dimensions of c.5m at the top / c.2.5m at the base and c.2.5 - 3m deep, the AT ditch, flanked on
BOTH sides by a bank measuring c.0.5m in height, is contemporary in measurements and construction style
with that of a flat-bottomed two-way Anti-tank ditch.
Supported by pillboxes and zig-zag / crennaltated infantry slit trenches, the pillbox / AT ditch affinity notion
as suggested by Wills (1985) can be seen clearly evident at Hog Wood, with three pillboxes and two slit
trenches associated with the ditch demonstrating that a strategic relationship was employed.
With additional miscellaneous earthworks briefly detailed in this report, further archaeological investigation is
needed at Hog Wood, with more detailed research into the national defensive network of Great Britain during
the early 1940s and in particular Bristol’s Outer Defence line a priority.
With this in mind, in order to improve both local as well as national records when understanding the defensive
structure set up in Great Britain during WWII and in particular, at a local level, Stop Line Green, it is
recommendation that the enhanced Sites and Monuments Record (as contained in Section 9) is adopted and
entered.

V seriji korakov storjenih v zadnjih letih, ki sledijo spremembam pojmovanja in dojemanja ˝arheološke dediščine˝ in ˝arheoloških ostalin˝ ter sočasnim spremembam zakonodaje s tega področja (ZVKD-1) smo v letu 2015 sistematično obdelali enega izmed segmentov proučevanja vojaških konfliktov 20. stoletja, in sicer lokacije letalskih razbitin na območju celotne Republike Slovenije. Sestavljena je podatkovna baza predstavlja lokacije, kjer bi zaradi okoliščin (strmoglavljenje) lahko pričakovali ˝arheološke ostaline˝. Tako pridobljeni podatkovni sloj je uporaben pri interpretaciji rezultatov (najdb) terenskih pregledov, kjer je možna najdba manjših kosov letalskih razbitin, ki bi bile lahko opredeljene le kot moderno smetenje. Ravno tako pa omogoča tudi ciljno strokovno arheološko terensko raziskovanje posameznih lokacij letalskih razbitin. Pričujoči seznam letal z datumi sestrelitve, serijskimi številkami izdelave letal ipd. v nadaljevanju lahko služi tudi pri interpretaciji objektov premične dediščine (t.j. delov letal), ki so v velikem številu ostali po vaseh v drugotni uporabi (v funkciji kot posode, orodje, strešna kritina, deli oblek ipd), številni pa se pojavljajo tudi pri zbiralcih. V podatkovni zbirki je trenutno zajetih 142 ameriških letal, 50 nemških, 42 britanskih, 23 drugih zavezniških, 4 italijanska in 1 madžarsko. Velik delež navedb predstavljajo sestreljena letala za katera ne poznamo tipa ali modela, včasih je zavedeno kvečjemu ali je šlo za bombnik ali lovsko letalo. Med znanimi tipi pa je največ, kar 37 bombnikov B-24 Liberator, sledi 34 letečih trdnjav Boeing B-17, 19 ameriških lovcev North American Aviation P-51 Mustang (v več različicah), 17 nemških lovcev Messerschmitt Bf 109, 11 ameriških lovcev Lock-heed P-38 Lightning, 7 britanskih lovcev Supermarine spitfire, 7 britanskih srednjih bombnikov Vickers Wellington , 6 britanskih bombnikov Handley Page Halifax, 5 ameriških lovcev Republic P-47D (Thunderbolt), 3-je nemški jurišniki Ju87 (Štuka), dva britanska dvomotorna težka lovca/bombnika Bristol 156 Beaufighter TF X, en ameriški lovec Curtiss P-40 Warhawk (oz. Kittyhawk), en nemški bombnik Heinkel He 111 H 3, en nemški bombnik Junkers Ju88A-4, en italijanski lovec Macchi (model neznan) in en italijanski lovec Savoia Marchetti (model neznan). Po grobi oceni skupna teža sestreljenih letal, brez dodatnega tovora (streliva, bomb ipd.), presega 2.500 ton. Največji bombniki s težo preko 16 ton aluminija, železa, jekla, bakra ipd. so v času splošnega poman-jkanja postali pravi rudniki materiala, kar je dobro dokumentirano in razvidno tudi iz številnih ohranjenih poročil. Morebitne ostanke letalskih razbitin lahko pričakujemo na mehkih tleh, npr. na Ljubljanskem barju, Cerkniškem jezeru, v rekah, morju, na odročnih, težko dostopnih krajih (npr. v pogorju Kanina in pod Rjavi-no) ter na nekaterih lokacijah kjer je izrecno zabeleženo, da se je letalo zarilo globoko v zemljo.

Natural or cultural criteria to be included in UNESCO World Heritage list should help for the inclusion and at the same time, help the preservation and diffusion of the legacy of the past which is being lived in present and will be transmitted to future generations as a universal value. In spite of these criteria, the list includes heritage sites with negatives characteristics. This happens because, some scholars, such as Trinidad Rico, have actually pointed out, they are a sort of uncomfortable heritage, especially because they are related to dark episodes of the recent past, but no less significant for that same reason. Negative  heritage is usually related to conflicts, especially throughout the 20th century. It has a crucial social significance and maybe it is because of their engagement with identity and remembrances processes. Nevertheless, these sites are rarely included neither on
the UNESCO World Heritage list nor on the Tentative lists of each country.
There are few examples of negative heritage inscribed as World Heritage: remarkable examples are Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (Poland), Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Japan) or Australian Convict Sites (Australia), etc. In the management of these sites questions such as the discourse (voices and multivocality) and interpretation arise and they do not always show all their complexity, especially regarding to historic episodes associated with trauma, conflict and human disasters. What we want to outline here are the remains of the Spanish Civil War as Cultural sites, which would be part of this wider problem mentioned above. The social importance of these sites relies on their association with the so-called process of recovery of historical memory and, at the same time, because of the materialization of the same process. Along with these lines, it is necessary to point out that these sites meet different criteria established by the World Heritage Convention (criteria iii, iv, v, vi), so thar their inscription could be considered. Basically, the aim of this paper is to show the core problems related to negative  heritage and, at the same time, their possible inclusion in the World Heritage List and some issues to be evaluated. Finally, we comment upon the characteristics of Spanish Civil War sites which could allow them to be nominated and inscribed in the World Heritage List as they are heritage places associated with a key time period, not only for Spaniards but for the whole  humankind.

Nine days after the German invasion in Belgium and four days before the fall of the fortifications around Liège, a remarkable confrontation took place in Halen (province of Limburg) between the cavalry brigade of general von der Marwitz and the only cavalry division of the Belgian army, led by general De Witte.
The fact that the landscape in the region of Halen is very varied influenced the choice of the location as well as the course of the battle. The combat, better known as the “Battle of Silver Helmets”, lasted for an entire day and for a long time threatened to end as a disaster for the Belgians. A late intervention by the infantry turned the tide and by dusk the German army  for the first time - retreated for a few kilometres. Dozens of dead and wounded soldiers as well as hundreds of dead horses were left behind on the battlefield.
Although the battle of Halen is only a footnote in Belgian war history, the location is not without importance. The small-scale independent victory of the Belgian army was at the same time one of the last great cavalry charges in European military history. This archaic 19th century way of warfare abruptly ended in Halen.
There are still several relics referring to this exceptional battle in the open landscape between Halen and Loksbergen: a military cemetery, a museum, different memorials, a farmstead, cleared and relocated Belgian and German military graveyards, mass graves for horses... Still, this war heritage actually is almost completely unprotected and thus vulnerable. Only the memorial on the Halen church square and the military cemetery are protected as monuments. The historical ‘IJzerwinning’ farm, where heavy man-to-man fighting has taken place, was demolished in 2013 and replaced with a new building. The western part of the battlefield still consists of arable land, as it was on the eve of World War I. Only to a limited extent this original arable land has been changed into pastures or half-standard orchards. In regional planning, parts of this landscape are marked as agricultural land of significant landscape value.
It is probably only possible to manage this historical battlefield in a well-considered way and to prevent its further degradation, in close consultation with environmental planning. Parallel with this attempt to secure the heritage values and awaiting the first convincing results of such action, an effort should be made to use the classic protection by means of sectoral legislation: the new Flemish heritage decree. War memorials at Halen, which have not yet been listed for protection, could thus be protected as monuments. A classic landscape protection could be considered in order to protect at least the centre of the battlefield. Furthermore, the cleared or relocated military cemeteries are quite important, as well as the mass graves for horses. These locations should be marked in an archaeological inventory.
Before World War I got stuck in a trench warfare which was to last four years, a war of charges raged through Belgium. Very few physical traces have been preserved of those first weeks of the war. Moreover, this faint link between the Great War and the actual landscape is rapidly fading and about to disappear. Now more than ever the monumental, landscape and archaeological war heritage must be respected as a unique last witness which could keep the memory of the Great War alive. If we want to put our war past in a right perspective for future generations, it is crucial to take action in order to preserve and protect less tangible heritage such as the battlefield at Halen.

This article will introduce the different aspects of the research undertaken by the Wiltshire Archaeology Field Group on the German POW camp at Yatesbury, Wiltshire. Established in late 1916 over 800 German POWs occupied the camp and were involved in a number of tasks including building and maintaining the aerodromes at RFC Yatesbury, undertaking road and drainage work and later agricultural duties. The multi faceted project combined various aspects of archaeological and historical investigations to identify the location of the camp, understand better its layout and the lives of those who stayed there, and put it into the regional and national context of the prisoner of war system in Britain during the First World War.

The aim of this chapter is twofold: firstly, I will outline the economy of punishment inflicted on the vanquished, and particularly to the bodies of the vanquished, during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and post-war period. Many of those who fell into the hands of the rebel army or paramilitary militias were tortured, killed and their bodies buried in unmarked graves. Others suffered all kinds of deprivations in concentration camps and prisons. In the second part, I will describe how the corporeality of the vanquished has been kept alive in different ways until recent exhumations started to expose the bodies again.

From the late 1960s the communist state of Albania embarked upon a bunker building programme that was devised to be significantly more comprehensive than previous defence proposals. This was instigated by the Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha during his alliance with China, a relationship that started in 1961 after failed partnerships with neighbouring Yugoslavia and the USSR. Albania had benefited greatly from Chinese financial and technical assistance. However, due to wider events in the Eastern Bloc, Hoxha had become concerned that China, being centred at some great distance from the Mediterranean, would be unable to counteract any invasion threat to Albania. Thus, the bunkerisation scheme was designed to be utilised by the whole population as a means of defence in the event of an attack or invasion. Numerous reinforced concrete defensive structures were created for the military and civilians at this time, from simple tunnels, air raid shelters, command posts, party headquarters, ammunition stores, subterranean army storage, machine gun posts and artillery bunkers. However, it is the smallest and most ubiquitous of these, the mushroom-shaped bunker (MSB), which will be the subject of this discussion.
This chapter will examine the varied life-histories of MSBs from their conception, installation and use, their later abandonment after communism fell in 1991 and their subsequent re-engagement through Albanian and foreign interactions. It has been almost fifty years since these small bunkers were conceived and twenty-five years since the fall of communism in Albania. Through this time-frame their characteristics, as individual entities and as a collective force, have been heavily invested with symbolism, meaning and identities. These qualities are not static. They are fluid and determined by their relationships with persons, socio-economic forces and the natural or urban environment in which they are situated. The coastal town of Ksamili in Southern Albania is close to the Greek coastal border with the Island of Corfu. Countless MSBs were installed along this coastal zone during communism, however in the post-socialist period, many have been re-used and/or destroyed in the drive to develop the town, tourism and create beaches. Ksamili is therefore an ideal focal point from which the form, function and future of Albania’s MSBs will be further explored, and implications discussed.

Emily Glass, University of Bristol, 2015

A photographic, drawn and written record of the World War 2 Stubb’s Hill Heavy Anti-Aircraft Site near Blunsdon, Swindon (including a Level 3 record and a systematic historic analysis of the origin, development and use of the standing buildings); the site and standing building surveys were completed on 29 November 2013.

Designated a Vital Point during the Second World War, the defence of Swindon against German air attack was important to the war effort. The surviving gun emplacements are the most complete remaining example of the four semi-permanent heavy anti-aircraft sites which defended the town between 1941 and 1944, and are of local and regional significance.

The Stubb’s Hill site is an important example of the tactical deployment and use of static (rather than mobile) anti-aircraft defences during the War, utilising the 3.7 inch heavy antiaircraft
gun attached via a holdfast to a concrete platform; a tactic which dominated UK based air defence from 1941 to 1944.

The site is also noteworthy as an example of the unique role of the ATS during the War. Designated a mixed site from 1941, the remaining buildings stand as a testament to the pioneering work of British female service personnel during the 1940s.

The four gun emplacements are in good condition, which is almost certainly due to their setting in a rural landscape; as evidenced by their physical condition, the total lack of graffiti, and the survival of some of the original internal paintwork. Now that the buildings
and the site have been recorded, schemes for their survival should be incorporated into any plans for the future development of the area.

Following the ratification of the 1906 Geneva Convention, in August the British Army approved the design for its first identity disc which was designed to assist with the identification of dead or wounded soldiers. A 1914 decision to produce the discs from compressed fibre rather than from aluminium resulted in an inability to identify thousands of soldiers during and after the First World War and it remained a problem despite the introduction of the double identity disc in 1916, created at the insistence of Sir Fabian War, founder of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. This article reflects upon the development of the British identity disc system between 1906-1916 and considers why so many soldiers became ‘unknown’.

A great deal is known about the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War (SCW) in terms of inter-world war
geopolitics, their history and make-up, but little is known about the materiality of the landscapes in which they lived, fought, and
died. This paper, based on fieldwork carried out by the International Brigadॸ Archaeoloॽ Project (IBAP) in Spain, in 2014 and
2015, aims to present examples of that materiality through landscape archaeology, and through the experiences of foreign volunteers on the project, some of which were related to International Brigaders. IBAP’s fieldwork took place southeast of Zaragoza
around the iconic Civil War ruins of Belchite, and along the opposing Nationalist and Republican entrenchments to the north,
at Mediana de Aragón. The reaction of the town council and people of Belchite to the project is also discussed.

The material remains of military conflicts and war crimes provoke reflection upon the complexity of entanglements between the past and the present with the future. Each of the events of the time of war manifests itself in context-based material and spatial dimensions. When research questions arise, archaeology has all the tools necessary to
reflect on all material remnants of historical processes and events. In striving to show the nature and value of contacts and close links of the past with the present and the future, contemporary archaeology has some useful tools.
In the first part of this paper – gradually moving from general to specific arguments – the author discusses the growing significance of, and interest in, the material remains of the troubled recent past which have become the subjects of archaeological research in contemporary Poland. In the following section the author elaborates on the validity of the assumption that battle and crime landscape of the 20th
century (also in Poland) should provoke social reaction and become a tangible warning. This attitude must then serve as means to encourage reflection on opportunities and ways to shape historical sensitivity and awareness, so as to create a better, more peaceful world. Finally, the author sketches the goals and methods that have been applied to a specific conflict space, within the process of archaeological revival of the material and social memory of life and death of the soldiers in the trenches of the Great War in the area of Rawka and Bzura. The author
concludes with a discussion about the constant changes of the landscape of the former battlefield and its social reception today.

In Parangoni. I. (ed.) 2015. Between Glory and Fall: Albania and the Industrial Experience. Tirana: Shtëpia Botuese.

Book Abstract: The book begins by examining the earliest traces of industrialisation in Albania, passing through the inter-war years and ending with the fall of communism in the early 1990s. There is a strong emphasis on the communist period, a time when the country saw a massive industrialisation effort.

En este capítulo se aborda el estudio de los Frentes y batallas generados en Toledo después de septiembre de 1936. Lo que permite ver la generación de varios frentes "espontáneos" en 1936, y luego la generación de frentes complejos en 1937 y 1938. También se abordan dos batallas, la de mayo de 1937 y, por último, la ofensiva final en el año 1939.

This article is the English summary of the Dutch report.

Errata: 1. Nachtjagddivision is mixed up with 1. NJG (Nachtjagdgeschwader). The Geschwader was part of the Division, both have a relationship with Deelen. The Division eventually became 3. Jagddivision, which staff also was situated at Diogenes and Deelen.


On the high moraines of the Veluwe north of the city of Arnhem (Gelderland, the Netherlands) the German Luftwaffe during World War 2 built several sites that contributed to the development of the German air defence. These include the military airfield of Deelen, the battle command bunker for the Luftwaffe in the Netherlands, Belgium and the Ruhr district code named Diogenes, the radio range and bearing and other radar stations code named Teerose, the anti-air craft batteries (Flak) and a variety of other smaller sites. Never before has a systematically inventory been made on these remnants that can be referred to as the “Deelen ensemble”. This archaeological project is the first endeavour.

The Teerose-stations were the only ones with another third substation, the purpose of which is still unclear and is the subject of this research. This station (Teerose III) wasn't a typical radio range and bearing station. On the basis of a renewed historical research, complemented by archaeological data, an attempt is being made to retrieve more information on this Luftwaffe site.

All these different Luftwaffe sites on the Veluwe, today in different states of preservation, were built in order to disturb the allied Air Forces as much as possible. These individual sites and the collaboration between them caused to prolong the war in the advantage of the Third Reich with numerous of both Allied and German pilots and civilian casualties as a direct consequence.

The site is unusual in that it is an element of a much larger firing range and line of fire covering an area of coastline over 27kms long. Built at the end of the First World War and used up to the 1950s, the firing point was designed for the testing of artillery, firing long-range shells across the Thames Estuary into shallow water and mudflats along the Essex coast. As well as a large gun emplacement it had velocity screen masts, a wharf on nearby Yantlet Creek, internal railway system linked up to the national network, a railway firing point, a gantry path with travelling crane,  mess buildings and related structures.  This complex was overlaid onto a  landscape of saltmarsh and winding creeks, concealing a rich archaeology of its own.

First chapter of "The Archaeology of the Spanish Civil War". The book offers the first comprehensive account of this conflict from an archaeological perspective, providing an alternative narrative on one of the most important conflicts of the twentieth century, widely seen as a prelude to the Second World War.

Between 1936 and 1939, totalitarianism and democracy, fascism and revolution clashed in Spain, while the latest military technologies were being tested, including strategic bombing and combined arms warfare, and violence against civilians became widespread. Archaeology, however, complicates the picture as it brings forgotten actors into play: obsolete weapons, vernacular architecture, ancient structures (from Iron Age hillforts to sheepfolds), peasant traditions, and makeshift arms. By looking at these things, another story of the war unfolds, one that pays more attention to intimate experiences and anonymous individuals. Archaeology also helps to clarify battles, which were often chaotic and only partially documented, and to understand better the patterns of political violence, whose effects were literally buried for over 70 years. The narrative starts with the coup against the Second Spanish Republic on 18 July 1936, follows the massacres and battles that marked the path of the war, and ends in the early 1950s, when the last forced labor camps were closed and the anti-Francoist guerrillas suppressed.

The book draws on 20 years of research to bring together perspectives from battlefield archaeology, archaeologies of internment, and forensics. It will be of interest to anybody interested in historical and contemporary archaeology, human rights violations, modern military history, and negative heritage