Cultural Resource
Management
Cultural Resource Management | Workshops | Forensic Archeology | Site and Scene Mapping and Cartography | Connor Biography
• Archaeological Inventory
• Archaeological Overviews and Assessments
• Archaeological Testing and Excavation
• Assist Private Sector in writing
compliance documents
• Battlefield Archaeology (see below)
• Firearms ID for Historic Weapons
• Historic Resource Studies
• National Register nominations
• Section 106 review and compliance
• Site Condition and Assessments
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BATTLEFIELD ARCHAEOLOGY
Military sites, particularly forts
and fortifications, have long been of interest to archaeologists and there
are many published reports on the results of investigations at these sites. Recently, another type of military site, the
battlefield, has become the subject of archaeological investigations. While the archaeological investigation of battlefield
sites was once considered useful only for locating cannon positions or recovering
war relics for museum displays, recent battlefield archaeology at sites dating
from the mid-1600s to the late nineteenth century show a far wider usefulness
of battlefield archaeology.
Archaeologists and volunteers excavate on Last Stand Hill,
Little Bighorn Battlefield in
Battlefield Research. The first intensive archaeological study of
an open battlefield site took place at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National
Monument (for more on archaeology at the Little Bighorn see www.mwac.nps.gov/libi) in southeastern
Figure 1 Metal arrowheads found at Little Bighorn
Battlefield in
Battlefield Theory. Because of the structured and ranked nature of military forces, battlefields are excellent locales for finding archaeologically definable behavioral patterns. Those who engage in combat are usually trained to fight in culturally established manners and patterns. It is precisely this training in proper battlefield or combat behavior that results in the deposition of artifacts that can be recovered by archaeological means and interpreted in an anthropological perspective.
These behavioral dynamics are interpreted in the battlefield model developed by Richard Fox and Douglas Scott (1991). This model asserts that individual, unit, and battlefield movements can be reconstructed using pattern recognition techniques. The model also predicts certain types of depositional patterns depending on the culture, training, and organization of the combatant groups. Battlefield studies can yield information on combatant positions used during the course of the battle as well as details of dress, equipage, and, in some cases, individual movements. Archaeological investigations can also retrieve information on troop deployment, firing positions, fields of fire, and weapon types present. Studies of artifact patterning can also reveal unit or individual movement during the battle, weapon trajectory, and range of firing by determining forces of projectile impact. Viewed in an anthropological context, battlefields are the physical and violent expression of the culture or cultures in conflict.
Battlefield Recovery and Analytical Techniques. Archaeological remains of military equipment and firearms are among the most important classes of battlefield evidence. However, the ability to translate patterning of these artifacts into behavioral dynamics constitutes an important advance over the traditional, nonsystematic recovery of battlefield relics. It is not enough to know where artifacts are found on a battlefield; archaeologists must also determine where they are not found. A primary goal of most battlefield research is therefore to define the limits of the battlefield. Faced with examining a large area, and assuming that most artifacts of war are either metallic or associated with metal, metal detectors have been successfully employed to define the full extent of the battlefield. As was the case at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, the use of metal detecting by experienced operators proved its value. It enables archaeologists to uncover artifacts with minimal disturbance and to point‑plot each artifact location for precise mapping. Precise artifact location information is essential to revealing the behavioral patterns that are crucial to understanding the combat events.
Battlefield archaeology is an
important contribution to the anthropology of war. The techniques developed can
reconstruct events at conflict sites from the U.S. Civil War to the former
Further
Connor, Melissa and Douglas D. Scott
1998 Metal Detector Use in
Archaeology: An Introduction. Historical Archaeology 32(4): 73-82. Order
at: www.shaonliine.org/pubs2.htm
Cruse, J. Brett, Patricia A.
Mercado-Allinger, Douglas D. Scott, and Pamela Folds
2000 The
Fox, Richard A., Jr. and Douglas D. Scott
1991 The Post‑Civil War
Battlefield Pattern. Historical Archaeology 25(2):92-103. Order at:
www.shaonliine.org/pubs2.htm
Scott, Douglas D.
1994 A Sharp Little Affair: The Archeology of the
Big Hole Battlefield. Reprints in Anthropology Volume 45. J and L
Reprints,
1999 Archaeologists: Battlefield
Detectives. In Little Bighorn
Remembered: The Untold Story of Custer's Last Stand edited by Herman J.
Viola, pp 165-177, Times Books, New York.
Scott,
Douglas and Melissa Connor
1986 Post‑Mortem at the
Little Bighorn. Natural History
95(6):46‑55.
Scott,
Douglas D., Richard
A. Fox, Jr., Melissa A. Connor, and Dick Harmon
1989 Archaeological Perspectives
On the
Scott,
Douglas D. and William J. Hunt, Jr.
1998 The Civil War Battle at
Cultural Resource Management | Workshops | Forensic Archeology | Site and Scene Mapping and Cartography | Connor Biography