Conflict archaeology

As stated by Nicholas J. Saunders in his book Beyond the Dead Horizon, "These complexities are generated partly by nature of modern wars/conflicts of industrialized intensity and they incorporate political and nationalistic motivations and notions of ethnicity and identity.

As stated by Saunders; "This multitude of issues makes modern conflict sites...multi-layered landscapes...that require robust interdisciplinary approaches.

Significant studies of conflict in North America predating the arrival of Europeans have been done, but these works are largely situated within regional, not thematic literature.

Within Saunders work, Susannah Callow's paper is presented as she analyzes the role in which body parts of the deceased act as key indicators of complex narratives of individual experiences during a conflict (i.e. politics, social status, personal memento etc.)

Our bodies tell us the human interaction enacted and the course of the conflict, whether one side was dominated in regards to another, based on physical evidence.

For example, Nazi concentration camps often referred to the Jews as "loads or "merchandise" and resulted in the victims loss of identity.

Therefore, it is through these examples that we realize that modern day conflicts are not limited to the battles and wars, but the psychological and anthropological interactions between various populations and the underlying motivations it exposes.

Early efforts include 1842 surveys of the English Civil War site of Naseby, and in the twentieth century the 1950s examination of the Portuguese battle of Aljbarotta of AD1325.

[7] In the United States attention was drawn to the possibilities of conflict archaeology in the National Parks sites of Little Big Horn and selected Civil Battle fields.

Other complexes such as supply, food preparation, sanitation, transportation, command structures, facilities for prisoners, hospitals and possibly the burial of the dead.

Following that theme, the location through remote sensing and traditional test excavation may reveal elements of conflict at a more personal level.

By studying the cultural signature of opposing groups, insight may be gained to help interpret not only the battlefield, but also the areas involved in pre and post conflict activities.

Opportunities for the deposition of archaeological evidence may consist of very minuscule traces to layers of multiple accumulations, all telling unique stories.

The events that are small in physical scale, again may or may not leave much evidence, but the larger episodes my in fact completely alter the landscape.

A close inspection of the documents of a period of colonialism will often reveal that the recordings of conflict will reflect the justifications of the subjecting power.

[17] Modern examples of extra-national conflicts, civil wars, episodes of genocide, concentration camps, ‘ethnic cleansing’ are producing execution sites, mass graves and other archaeological evidences.

These episodes are heavily involving conflict archaeology into the legal theatre to augment evidence of war crimes and atrocities.