Military Archaeology Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

In den Jahren 2003 und 2008 wurden die Reste von zwei Gebäuden entdeckt, die beim großen Brand von Stargard, der am 7. Oktober 1635 ausbrach, zerstört wurden. Zum einen handelt es sich um Überreste des Kellers eines Vorder- oder Hinterhauses, zum anderen um die Überreste des Kellers von einem Wiekhaus, das sich im Verlauf der Wehrmauer befand. Der Abstand zwischen den entdeckten Spuren der Brandstätte betrug nur hundert Meter. Aus beiden Bereichen wurden zahlreiche und genau datierte Materialien gewonnen. Bis heute war einer der tragischsten Brände in der Geschichte der Stadt nur aus historischen Quellen bekannt. Die Ergebnisse der oben genannten Arbeiten bildeten die Grundlage für dieses Buch – den vierten Band der Reihe „Archeologia Stargardu“ („Archäologie von Stargard“).
Die Bearbeitung und Herausgabe dieser Ergebnisse war dank Zuschüssen im Rahmen des Programms „Bodendenkmalschutz“ des Ministeriums für Kultur und Nationales Erbe und dank Mitteln seitens der Stadtgemeinde Stargard möglich.
Die Publikation besteht aus drei Kapiteln. Vorgestellt werden mehrere historische Studien über den Verlauf des Dreißigjährigen Krieges in Pommern und der Stadt an der Ina selbst sowie über das am 7. Oktober 1635 ausgebrochene Feuer, wobei alle archäologischen Quellen anhand der Ergebnisse metallurgischer Analysen umfassend bearbeitet wurden. Es werden hier auch die Erkenntnisse aus der petrographischen Analyse der Bruchstücke von Irden- und Grauwarevorgestellt und mit Beispielen aus anderen pommerschen Städten verglichen.

- by and +2
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- Military History, Archaeology, Historical Archaeology, Early Modern History
- by Nathalie Cohen
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- Archaeology, Second World War, Conflict Archaeology, First World War

This volume illustrates the structure and salient features of the fortified town of Casale Monferrato during the Spanish Succession War (1700 – 1714). After the citadel’s initial demolition, it was repaired by the Gonzaga Family at the end of 16th century. In 1696, the French returned Casale to the Duke of Mantova, only to reoccupy it indefinitely in 1701. At that time, the fermeture was planned, which re-fortified the part of the fortress damaged during its destruction. After summarising Casale’s strategic role in the 17th century within the policies of Spain, France, Savoy and Mantova, this volume presents the French engineer Paul Francois d’Astier’s documents and drawings, stored in the French Military Archives, Vincennes, and State Archives, Turin. These demonstrate what was prepared on the occasions of those interactions.
Overall, this volume focuses the reader’s attention on Casale’s role as a logistical base for the Armée d’Italie in the Po Valley during the campaigns from 1701 to 1706

- by Roberto Sconfienza
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- Military History, Military Architecture, Poliorcetics, History of architecture

Import of weapons came to the steppes in various ways. One of them was to pass on as diplomatic gifts that testified about the concluded covenants and emphasized the status and prestige of the donors and the donees. Such a ceremonial weapon was made to order at the rulers' court, often taking into account nomads’ sense of aesthetic. Another way of transfer was the purchase. Therefore, in border areas and near riverbanks, craft settlements were created. They often specialized in the production of weapons preferred by nomads. In addition, part of the collected weapons was undoubtedly the spoil of war.
The main centers of production and delivery of weapons for nomads were Ruthenia, Volga Bulgaria, Caucasus, Byzantine, Central and Western Asia. Weapons from the Baltics and Western Europe territories were less likely to reach the Black Sea steppes.
A ceremonial weapon, buried in the grave, was not only meant to testify to the bravery and prestige of its owner but also indicated a warrior's social position and military rank. Also, funeral rites, related to the preparation of the deceased for the journey into the afterlife, in community awareness were to emphasize the ethos of the horse warrior.

- by Maxime Poulain
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- History, Military History, Archaeology, Early Modern History

Covers the structures and archaeological remains left by a range of historical activities on Bodmin Moor, including water (reservoirs, waterworks, iceworks), woodlands, military activities (largely WW2), recreation and antiquarian... more

- by Chris Espenshade
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- Conflict Archaeology, Battlefield Archaeology, Military Archaeology, War of 1812
- by Todd Ahlman
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- Historical Archaeology, Military Archaeology, Tennessee Archaeology
- by Timothy Abel
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- Conflict Archaeology, Military Archaeology, War of 1812, Military Sites Archaeology

The legions of the Roman Army spark our imaginations, even
today. The image of their armour, large shields, swords and cloaks are prominent to us and instantly recognizable, with their eagle standards blazing overhead as depicted in stone on the iconic Trajan’s Column. The image of the eagle more than any other has lived on and been used by the likes of Napoleon Bonaparte centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire. But what did the eagle standard, and indeed the others, mean to the soldiers who carried them? What did they symbolize? Why were they venerated?

- by Jessica Billing
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- Military History, Roman History, Identity (Culture), Ideology

PhD thesis - Arheologija soške fronte (Archaeology of the Isonzo Front)

- by Uroš Košir
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- History, Military History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Santa Elena, located on Parris Island along the coast of South Carolina, was the first capital, and northernmost permanent settlement, of Spanish La Florida. Over two decades of occupation (AD 1566-1587), five forts were successively built while by AD 1569 a burgeoning Spanish settlement of over 200 people, complete with artisans, farmers, and Jesuit missionaries, flourished. Here, we articulate the results of recent, full-coverage ground-penetrating radar and magnetic gradiometry surveys with over 40 years of extant archaeological data to elucidate organizational characteristics of the Spanish settlement at Santa Elena. In particular, we use geophysical data to identify the potential locations of buried Spanish wells across the site. We identify roughly 200 potential well locations and compare these locations to the distribution of Spanish artifacts across the site yielded through a full-coverage shovel test survey, the arrangement of Spanish structures known from large-scale block excavations, and the likely position of roadways and house lots. This new data is used to contextualize and refine extant understandings of Santa Elena's town plan while also contributing to a broader research program devoted to exploring Spanish colonial life and settlement in 16 th-century North America (The Santa Elena Landscape Project). As Santa Elena is a National Historic Landmark currently threatened by rising sea levels, this work contributes to an efficient, minimally invasive research program devoted to exploring the Spanish settlement at Santa Elena and to documenting the range of cultural resources present at the site for the purposes of protection and remediation in the context of significant, ongoing shoreline erosion.

- by Jacob Holland-Lulewicz and +1
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- American History, Ethnohistory, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Landscape Archaeology
- by Marcin Czarnowicz
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- First World War, Military Archaeology, First World War Cemeteries

Excavations in 2018 at the rear of the former ‘Avalon Inn’, High Street, Castlecomer, uncovered the north-east bastion of a large fort which was probably constructed as a government fortress in the run-up to the 1641 Rebellion. The fort was one of a series built to defend the vital
road link between Dublin and Kilkenny and it was besieged by the Confederate forces in 1641-2. Castlecomer Fort appears to have been a relatively shortlived stronghold and whilst it was probably reoccupied c. 1653 by an English garrison and perhaps again in 1680, there is no indication that it continued to function as a fort after c. 1700. The paper describes the archaeological excavations and places the fort in its broader historical context.

Given the difficulty that archaeologists usually encounter in order to identify, contextualize and conveniently date the artifacts of military
origin found in their excavations, a catalogue of some of them is offered, especially the projectiles for portable muzzleloader and breechloading weapons most commonly used on the cantabrian coast between 1840 and 1880.

Publikationen / publications 2005 - 2024

- by Arne Homann
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- History, Military History, Archaeology, Historical Archaeology

Comunemente collochiamo la nascita della scherma nel
Rinascimento, poiché è relativamente a questo periodo che si ha notizia dei primi e più completi trattati delle scuole italiana, francese e spagnola, ma l’arte sistematica del combattere, in Europa, sembra antica almeno quanto l’uomo stesso. Riferimenti alle arti marziali abbondano già nella letteratura greca; le fonti sul pankratio olimpico, per esempio, documentano esempi di wrestling, boxe e kick-boxing
molto simili a quelli moderni.
Il desiderio di conoscere i dettagli degli antichi sistemi di
combattimento con le armi invita ad una sempre più attenta analisi delle fonti visive e dei pochi frammenti testuali a riguardo, per compiere osservazioni sulle tecniche che gli antichi Greci impiegavano nella pratica della scherma e che trasmisero alle epoche successive, attraverso la mediazione dei Romani.
Ricostruire scientificamente l’antico modo di combattere, le tecniche e le tattiche impiegate nell’uso della spada, richiede più che una speculazione deduttiva sulla base delle fonti: l’archeologia sperimentale è oggi divenuto un insostituibile
aiuto per i ricercatori di questo campo.
La perdita moderna della tradizione della scherma greca dell’antichità si può ricondurre a diversi fattori: per primo il modo orale di trasmettere le conoscenze schermistiche proprio di quell’epoca. Inoltre la segretezza dei metodi faceva sì che le teorie dei maestri si perdessero con la loro morte, così come si è persa anche l’implicita continuità con la scherma romana, medievale e rinascimentale.

- by Alberto Bernacchi
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- Greek Archaeology, Military Archaeology
- by Ruben G Mendoza
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- Military History, Archaeology, Maritime Archaeology, Historical Archaeology

The established image of the art of war in medieval Wales is based on the analysis of historical documents, the majority of which have been written by foreign hands, most notably those associated with the English court. This thesis has revisited the historical evidence, and together with the analysis of literature and virtually untouched archaeological material, in order to determine the accuracy of this image.
The thesis is separated into three sections. The first examines the variety of evidence available to study the art of war in medieval Wales, and assesses its value to the proposed research. The second is formed by a discussion of the different types of military equipment that would have been used, including the bow and arrow, the spear, the sword and other miscellaneous weapons. There is also a discussion on the form of the shield. Finally this is brought together in the final section to discuss the reality of soldiering in medieval Wales.
Medieval writers established an image of Welsh soldiering that is quite often backward and barbaric, and although some refer to Welsh skill in combat, they also emphasise the weaknesses of their approach and their unwillingness to partake in open battle, preferring night attacks and ambushes. However, it is clear from this assessment of the sources, that difference between the Welsh approach to war and that of their Norman and English counterparts was not significantly different. Occasionally native equipment was abandoned in favour of foreign forms, including a change from native round shields to kite and heater shields during the thirteenth century. In other circumstances it appears that elements of Welsh warfare were adopted by the English. However the differences between the weaponry used and tactics deployed.

- by Samantha Colclough
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- Medieval Warfare, Military Archaeology

Pre-modern warfare presents significant challenges to those who would attempt detailed analysis. Unlike post-Napoleonic era militaries, pre-modern armies rarely have any standardized organizational structure or guiding doctrine that enables us to make assumptions of how components were arrayed and employed on the battlefield. Unfortunately, this means much historical analysis simply glosses over or fails to examine details which would significantly affect our understanding of what occurred on the pre-modern tactical battlefield.
This does not mean, however, that we must accept generalizations and assumptions. My research into inconsistencies in historical analysis of the Battle of Nagashino (Japan, 1575) has demonstrated the value of using certain concepts of contemporary military analysis as a construct for reexamining pre-modern conflict. Comprehensively viewing a battle or campaign across the levels of warfare, diving into the details of how each combatant army was organized and equipped, and in-depth analysis of terrain and weather effects provide insights beyond those that can be gleaned from reading old texts. With this approach, the need to drastically reevaluate how samurai armies utilized firepower at Nagashino becomes obvious.
The goal of this paper is to explain these approaches as an analytical model to augment textual analysis by traditional historians, material analysis by archaeologists, and anthropological methodologies focused on participants, bringing these disparate approaches together in complementary ways.

- by Nathan H Ledbetter
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- Military History, Conflict Archaeology, Military Archaeology

A detailed examination of aerial photographs and lidar was undertaken as part of the desk-based assessment for the University of Reading Silchester Iron Age Environs Project. The results of the aerial investigation and mapping provide a framework for understanding how the landscape was altered over time and in particular how this affects our understanding and perception of the Iron Age to Roman transition. Sites of note include prehistoric funerary monuments and
settlements, medieval deer park boundaries and Second World War ordnance production and storage sites. The aerial photograph and lidar survey covered 143 kilometre squares, including and providing context for the core project area of c. 100 kilometre squares around the Iron Age oppidum and Roman town at Silchester. Archaeological monuments
from all periods from the Neolithic up until the Cold War were mapped and recorded, although the emphasis of the overall project is on the Iron Age. A total of 671 archaeological sites were discovered and information was added to 81 of the known sites in the area. The project data is available from the Historic England Archive and the West Berkshire or Hampshire Historic Environment Records.

- by Krystyna Truscoe
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- Prehistory, Iron Age, Oppida, Military Archaeology
- by Valerii P . Nikonorov
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- Military Archaeology, Scythians, Ancient Weapons and Warfare

Military archeology of the Modern Era in Piedmont. The study of Alpine military fortifications. This article presents a sector of post-Medieval archeology which is dedicated to the study of military fortifications in the Western Alps between Piedmont, Savoy and Dauphiné in the period from the second half of the 17th century and the end of the 18th century. The subject is divided by illustrating, first of all, the context of the studies of the military, architectural and territorial history of the states of Savoy during the Ancien Régime and focusing specifically on the few examples of military archaeological research; afterwards the author describes the western defense system of the continental states belonging to the Kingdom of Piedmont/Sardinia, starting in the 18th century, and the function of the military fortifications in that area; as well as the planimetric and construction characteristics of the defense works. The author then illustrates the research tools and methodologies used for the study of military fortifications, dividing them into those used for field archaeological research and and those for bibliographic research in the archives. The author reviews four case studies on which he conducted research from 1997 to 2011: the entrenchments of Assietta, of Piccolo San Bernardo, of the valley of Varaita and of the hills of Finestre and Fattières in the valleys of Susa and Chisone. The article concludes with a reference to the data from the exemplifications and the suppositions of the methods previously described and an attempt is made to extend the outlook for research on the defensive systems and on the artifacts discussed by proposing an interpretation of them as integral components of the historical Alpine landscapes along the old confines between France and Piedmont/Sardinia which can still be recovered and need to be adequately evaluated and protected.
Key words: entrenchment, military fortifications, confines, Alps, trinceramento, fortificazione campale, confine, strategia, Alpi

- by Roberto Sconfienza
- •
- Ancient History, Classical Archaeology, Military Architecture, Poliorcetics

Il contributo illustra le fasi costruttive di un bastione della cinta fortificata di Chivasso (TO), realizzato negli anni ’70 del XVI secolo. I resti dell’opera sono stati indagati archeologicamente negli anni ’90 del secolo scorso, in occasione di un intervento d’emergenza in un cantiere edile; ciò nondimeno, oltre alla documentazione archeologica ordinaria, è stato possibile recuperare i dati inerenti le tecniche costruttive adottate in occasione dell’edificazione del bastione a partire dalle fondazioni fino all’elevato. Le risultanze in situ sono poi state sistematicamente confrontate e integrate con le informazioni sulle tecniche costruttive, presenti nella trattatistica di architettura militare rinascimentale, in modo da collocare la costruzione dell’opera in seno ad un contesto generale, di cui essa stessa diviene esempio concreto.

Carpathian fortifications of the Bar Confederation in the
light of the recent archaeological research – with a special
consideration of the fort over Wysowa In 1768 Bar Confederation broke out (1768–1772). For four years, the Confederates fought in many places of the First Polish Republic, clashing with Russian troops. After rapid defeats suffered upcountry of the territory of the Polish Republic, military operations moved to the mountainous areas of Lesser
Poland. Based on the protection of the mountains and the proximity of the Hungarian border, numerous military camps were set up in the area of the border strip. Old 18th century fortresses of the Confederates were located from the area of foothills to the Bieszczady Mountains. Most of them were forgotten and unknown. Only recent discoveries made mainly based on remote sensing data (lidar) have revealed the old camp sites. The consequence of these discoveries was the work of the authors of the article, aimed at the identification of the sites by means of geophysical methods (magnetometry, earth resistance). The main
efforts were made to identify the location of old fortifications, establish internal and external infrastructure and to confirm the confederate provenance of the sites in the case of very poorly preserved facilities. The old camps in Muszynka, Izby, Wysowa, Konieczna, Mytarka and Nowy Łupków were subjected to the research. However, the paper mainly refers to the fortifications of the camp above Wysowa, which shape was revealed during the last measurements.

- by Michał Filipowicz
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- History, Military History, Archaeology, Polish History

This study is dedicated to the assessment of a series of finds from Rychmberk Castle, near Rychnov nad Kněžnou. The finds come from metal detector prospecting and include spatial data. The series largely consists of arrow tips and shots from firearms. Based on the spatial distribution of the objects it is possible to distinguish between the ammunition of the defenders and that of the besiegers; the directions of the attacks can be interpreted as well. However, owing to the character of the series and the relatively low chronological sensitivity of militaria, the finds cannot be sorted out and linked to particular historical events. Written sources document sieges of the castle in 1425, 1441 and 1457

- by Pavel Drnovský and +1
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- Medieval Archaeology, Military Archaeology, Castle Studies, Siege Warfare

Archaeological fieldwork was carried out by CFA Archaeology Ltd (CFA) in March 2011 at land to the east of the Inn at Lochailort (NGR: NM 767 817; Fig 1; Hills 2011). The work was carried out in advance of development of a Salmon Smolt Recirculation Unit and was commissioned by Marine Harvest (Scotland) Ltd. The site was established as a military training camp in 1940, and in 1942 it was taken over as a naval training establishment. After the war, the camp was returned to the Inverailort Estate,and was later used as a Roman Catholic youth training camp until the 1960s. Latterly thecamp reverted to agricultural and fish farming use (Thornber 2010, 1–2).The metal detector survey was carried out by CFA and members of the Scottish Detector Club. A series of 30m by 30m grids was established over the area and detecting took place on a grid by grid basis. Each grid was detected in parallel transects, typically c.2m apart, to ensure that the whole area was covered. All metal finds were bagged according to grid and were retained for recording by a finds specialist. The survey resulted in an assemblage of almost 300 objects. The entire assemblage of metal finds was assessed for any material related to firearms by Jonathan Ferguson, Curator of Firearms at the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, and these are reported in Section 2. Material not picked out during this assessment is reported in Section 3. Catalogues of the finds are included in the Appendices.

- by Jonathan Ferguson and +1
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- Archaeology, Military Archaeology, Firearms, Arms and Ammunitions

V posledných rokoch patrí archeológia bojísk na Slovensku k pomaly sa etablujúcim odvetviam archeológie. Vďaka zopár zanieteným jedincom získava aj v odborných kruhoch postupne čoraz viac pozornosti. Hlavná pozornosť je venovaná opisu a dokumentovaniu bojových akcií, resp. zachovaniu a ochrane reliktov po bojových činnostiach. Napriek tomu sa výskum v zahraničí koncentruje vďaka dlhodobému záujmu o archeológiu bojísk na rekonštrukciu a pochopenie stratégií bojujúcich strán pomocou priestorových analýz. V nasledujúcom texte je predstavená jedna z najčastejšie využívaných analytických metód, ktorá je známa pod akronymom KOCOA. Ako modelové územie bola vybraná oblasť medzi Trnavou a Trstínom (juhozápadné Slovensko), kde sa nemecké jednotky pokúsili začiatkom apríla 1945 zastaviť postup Sovietov. Prostredníctvom metódy KOCOA sa pokúsime predikovať miesta vhodné na obranu. Konfrontácia vybraných lokalít s lidarovými snímkami má potenciál odhaliť prítomnosť doposiaľ zachovaných poľných opevnení, ktoré sa tak môžu stať predmetom ďalšieho výskumu a ochrany.