Tony Pollard

War and Sacrifice

This collection of papers on the archaeology of conflict covers a wide range in both time and space, running from Sub-Neolithic Finland to early Modern Ireland. The papers include a diverse series of approaches to the study of conflict, using excavation, osteology, artefacts and linguistics.

For Duty Done: A WWI Military Medallion Recovered from the Mass Grave Site at Fromelles, Northern France

Abstract The artefact to be discussed in this paper was recovered in 2007 during the preliminary field investigation of the suspected site of grave pits containing Australian and possibly British soldiers killed in the Battle of Fromelles in 1916. It was one of two medallions recovered, both of which were clearly Australian in origin. These rarely encountered artefacts played a key role in convincing the Australian authorities that there was a distinct possibility that the burials, made by the Germans behind their own lines in the days after the battle, were still intact, despite attempts to locate them in the immediate aftermath of the war. As a consequence, a second programme of investigation was commissioned by the Australian Army and in the summer of 2008 limited trial excavation uncovered the remains of Australian and British soldiers in six of the eight pits known to have been dug by the Germans. In 2009 the graves were fully excavated and all of the remains removed, prior to reburial in a newly created cemetery in 2010.

Beyond Recall: Searching for the Remains of a British Secret Weapon of World War I

Abstract This article discusses the development of the Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector, a massive British flamethrower that was used against German trenches in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Built underground within tunnels below No Man’s Land, this secret weapon was an attempt to use technology to break through German defences and reduce British casualties. The flame projector was the most effective flamethrower developed in WWI, but proved to be too inflexible and expensive to be widely used.

The use of First World War aerial photographs by archaeologists: A case study from Fromelles, Northern France

This chapter considers the use of aerial reconnaissance photographs taken on the Western Front during the First World War as a source of information for the growing number of archaeologists carrying out archaeological investigations on sites of conflict from this period. Hundreds of thousands of aerial photographs were taken by both sides during the war, a process which in itself provided the engine for the development of aerial warfare, because of the need to provide protection for military reconnaissance. One of the largest collections of Allied photographs resides in the Imperial War Museum in London which provided the examples used in this study.

Survey and Excavation of the Anglo-Zulu War Fort at Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract A programme of topographic and geophysical survey was combined with metal detecting and trial trenching at the site of the British fort at KwaMondi, Eshowe, KwaZulu. Evidence was recovered of the buildings used by the British troops in 1879, together with artefacts from the siege. In addition, the results provided an insight into the history of the site after the end of the British occupation.

Protecting a Bloodstained History: Battlefield Conservation in Scotland

Abstract Scotlands battlefields gained legislative protection in March 2011 with the publication of the Inventory of Scottish Battlefields. The background to the Inventory is explored, with a consideration of how similar issues have been approached in other countries. The paper then goes on to examine the approach taken in the creation of the Inventory, looking at the issues that arose and the solutions adopted.

Not so Quiet on the Western Front: Progress and Prospect in the Archaeology of the First World War

Editorial iii Tony Pollard and Iain Banks Articles Iain Banks, Ghosts in the Desert: the Archaeological Investigation of a Sub-Saharan Battlefield 1 James Bonsall, The Study of Small Finds at the 1644 Battle of Cheriton 29 Conor Brady, Emmet Byrnes, Gabriel Cooney & Aidan O’Sullivan, An Archaeological Study of the Battle of the Boyne at Oldbridge, Co Meath 53 Natasha N. Ferguson, Platforms of Reconciliation? Issues in the Management of Battlefield Heritage in the Republic of Ireland ...... 79 Tom Fisher, Objects for Peaceful Disordering: Indigenous Designs and Practices of Protest 95 Derek Allsop & Glenn Foard, Case Shot: An Interim Report on Experimental firing and Analysis to Interpret Early Modern Battlefield Assemblages 111 Alastair H. Fraser & Martin Brown, Mud, Blood and Missing Men: Excavations at Serre, Somme, France 147 William O. Frazer, Field of Fire: Evidence for Wartime Conflict in a 17th-Century Cottier Settlement in County Meath, Ireland 173 Padraig Lenihan, Unhappy Campers: Dundalk (1689) and After ........ 197 Damian Shiels, Battle and Siege Maps of Elizabethan Ireland: Blueprints for Archaeologists? 217 David Sneddon, Newfoundlanders in a Highland Forest During WWII .... 233

Taking the Hill: Archaeological Survey and Excavation of German Communication Trenches on the Summit of Mont St Quentin

Abstract The following presents the results of a limited programme of field investigation carried out on the site of German communication trenches running through woodland on the summit of Mont St Quentin, just outside the town of Péronne, in the Somme region of Picardy. The aim of the project was to assess the archaeological potential of features related to the Battle of Mont St Quentin, which took place in August/September 1918 and was co-directed by Tony Pollard and Iain Banks. The fieldwork, which consisted of topographic survey, metal detector survey and limited excavation, was carried out over ten days, between 29 August and 9 September 2011. The action, by men of the Australian Second Division, saw the Germans pushed off their strong position on the hill, and thereafter the recapture of Péronne. As a result, three Victoria Crosses were awarded, and General Rawlinson described the battle as the finest achievement of the war. Given its place in the history of Australian military endeavour on the Western Front, the Historial de la Grande Guerre in Péronne has taken out a fifty-year lease on an area of land within Mont St Quentin Wood, which is an initiative supported by the Australian government via the Department of Veteran’s Affairs. This ground includes a number of German communication trenches, along with other features such as shell holes. The intention is to include this area in a heritage trail (Australian Remembrance Trail), which will incorporate other sites of Australian activity, including Fromelles, Villers-Bretonneux and Hamel. In order to maximise the impact and educational value of the site it has been subject to archaeological investigation, an exercise that will add to our understanding of events there, and also provide information and material for a proposed interpretation centre.

Bastions and barbed wire

A collection of the latest work in Conflict Archaeology. General theme is confinement, with concentration camps and siege sites, and defensive structures covered. Also includes other papers on battlefield archaeology and conflict studies.

The Mountain is their Monument: An archaeological Approach to the Landscapes of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879

The Anglo-Zulu War occupies a special position in British military history; not least because a single day, 22nd January 1879, saw one of the worst defeats ever inflicted on an imperial army by an indigenous force, and one of the most celebrated examples of a small force overcoming overwhelming odds. But the battles of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift were only two events in a war which although lasting only six months saw a number of notable engagements within contrasting types of terrain, including the battles of Nyezane, Hlobane, Khambula, Ntombe and Gingindlovu, culminating with the final defeat of the Zulu army by a British square at Ulundi on the Hahlabathini Plain in the shadow of the Zulu king’s homestead. There was also a siege, with Zulu forces keeping more than 1700 British troops penned inside their hastily constructed fort at Eshowe for two and a half months, until relieved by a re-invasion force. This paper provides an introduction to the Anglo-Zulu War Archaeology Project, a joint enterprise between the Department of Archaeology at Glasgow University and Heritage KwaZuluNatal. Fieldwork began with the survey of the British fort a t Eshowe in September 1999. The project will adopt a wide landscape based approach in order to place sites of archaeological interest (battlefields, forts, camps, Zulu homesteads etc.) within their wider context. The influence of terrain on the progress of the war is discussed, as is the differing perceptions of landscape held by both the Zulu and the British, the origins of the latter being traceable back to early traveller’s writings such as Gardiner’s Journey to the Zoolu Country of 1836.