Uncovering a Painful Past: Archaeology and the Holocaust

Abstract

Places connected to the Holocaust, and the physical evidence that lies within them, survive as reminders of the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis. Both the treatment of these sites and attitudes towards them have varied considerably in the years since the Second World War. In recent years, a number of archaeological investigations have been instigated by curators at Holocaust sites in a direct attempt to enhance visitor experiences and education programmes. Archaeologists have initiated investigations at other forgotten and dilapidated sites in an attempt to raise awareness of these places. This paper will discuss two case study sites where archaeological investigations have been undertaken and where attempts have been made to inform conservation, heritage management, and education strategies. It will highlight the various challenges that may arise in the course of developing dissemination tools and discuss strategies that have been adopted to account for them. Specifically it will focus on how archaeologists can present novel means by which to locate, record, and re-present the physical evidence of the Holocaust and how they can tell the stories of difficult heritage sites even when traditional forms of memorialization/muzealization is not wanted or practical.     

Archaeology and the Forensic Investigation of Recent Mass Graves: Ethical Issues for a New Practice of Archaeology

The close of World War II marked the advent of international human rights legislation and the prosecution of individuals for human rights crimes, by both nation states and international tribunals. The prosecution at such trials often presents evidence from forensically excavated mass graves. Forensic archaeology is a new and expanding field and as such has yet to establish a uniform code of ethics, standard operating procedures, and transparency. In addition, there are complex and conflicting agendas of mass grave excavation. Mass grave investigation in Iraq since the 2003 American-led invasion is presented as a case in point.

---

Résumé  La fin de la seconde guerre mondiale a marqué l’avènement international de la poursuite judiciaire des individus ayant commis des crimes de guerre et d’une législation des droits de l’homme à la fois de la part des nations et des tribunaux internationaux. La poursuite judiciaire engagée à souvent fourni la preuve de la présence, par excavation, de tombes de masse. L’archéologie des expertises médico-légales est devenue un champ nouveau en pleine expansion, et, en tant que tel, a établi un code éthique généralisé, ainsi que des procédures standard et de transparence. De plus, il existe des agendas complexes et conflictuels de tombes de masse découvertes par excavation. Ceci s’applique à l’Irak depuis 2003 où l’invasion menée par les. américains est sujette à enquête.

---

Resumen  El fin de la Segunda Guerra Mundial marcó la aparición de una legislación internacional de derechos humanos y los juicios contra los acusados de crímenes contra los derechos humanos, tanto por parte de los estados nacionales como los tribunales internacionales. En los procesos de estos juicios a menudo se presentaban pruebas de la existencia de fosas comunes excavadas por forenses. La arqueología forense es una nueva disciplina en crecimiento y por ello, aún no ha establecido un código ético uniforme, procesos de funcionamiento estándar ni transparencia. Asimismo, hay programas complejos y conflictivos de excavación en fosa comunes. La investigación de fosas comunes en Irak desde la invasión del 2003 encabezada por EE.UU. se presenta como un caso paradigmático.

     

Regional Approaches to Mesopotamian Archaeology: The Contribution of Archaeological Surveys

This work synthesizes and critically evaluates the results of field surveys conducted over the last 20 years in southern (lower) and northern (upper) Mesopotamia, with emphasis placed on the increasing contribution of off-site and intensive surveys to regional analysis. During the Ubaid period the density of settlement was probably higher in the rain-fed north than the irrigated south, and even during the phase of 3rd millennium B.C. urbanization, settlement densities in the north were probably equivalent to or even exceeded those in the south. Although trends in settlement were often synchronous between north and south, there was also a marked spatial variability in settlement, with declines in one area being compensated by rises elsewhere. Particularly clear was the existence of a major structural transformation from nucleated centers during the Bronze Age towards dispersed patterns of rural settlement and more extensive lower towns in the Iron Age.     

A Multi‐disciplinary Approach to the Archaeological Investigation of a Bedrock‐Dominated Shallow‐Marine Landscape: an example from the Bay of Firth,Orkney, UK

Investigation of shallow‐marine environments for submerged prehistoric archaeology can be hampered in many localities by extensive bedrock exposure and thus limited preservation potential. Using the concept of ‘seamless archaeology’ where land‐based archaeology is integrated across the intertidal zone through to the offshore, a multi‐disciplinary approach is essential. This approach taken in the Bay of Firth, Orkney uses geophysics, historical archive and ethno‐archaeology, coastal geomorphology, palaeo‐environmental analyses and sea‐level science, and allows a clearer understanding of the landscape in which prehistoric settlers lived. While acknowledging the limitations of the preserved environment, we are successful in identifying areas of archaeological potential on the sea‐bed for both upstanding structural elements as well as sediment preservation that contains evidence for human occupation. This has wider implications beyond Orkney's World Heritage sites to provide a blueprint for similar studies elsewhere in the coastal zone. © 2012 The Authors     

Archaeological Survey of Dynamic Coastal Landscapes and Paleoshorelines: Locating Early Holocene Sites in the Prince Rupert Harbour Area,British Columbia,Canada

We present and test a predictive archaeological survey model that targets early Holocene paleoshorelines in the Prince Rupert Harbour area using LiDAR bare earth digital terrain models and a 15,000-year reconstructed history of relative sea level change. Despite a century of archaeological research in the study area, no sites dating earlier than 6000 cal b.p. had been identified prior to our research. Our field survey identified three early Holocene sites associated with paleoshorelines 7–10?m above current sea level (masl). These locations demonstrate repeated use through the Holocene even as shoreline position changes. We discuss these new data in relation to the early Holocene archaeological record from the rest of the northern Northwest Coast and suggest that the region was ubiquitously occupied by this time and that the lack of recorded early Holocene sites in some areas is likely a result of survey and preservation bias, rather than historical reality.     

Archaeological,Historical, and Ethnographic Approaches to the Study of Sewn Boats: past,present, and future

Sewn‐plank vessels have been a pervasive form of ship construction since antiquity. This paper provides an introductory overview of the current state of the field of sewn‐plank studies, with a particular focus on the Indian Ocean. It describes the basic function of sewn‐plank techniques, and then discusses textual references and historical approaches to the topic. The relevant archaeological evidence is reviewed, and prior ethnographic work relating to the topic is outlined. It summarizes numerous experimental sewn‐plank reconstructions that have been undertaken and concludes with a discussion of the current directions of the field and suggestions for the future.     

The Landscape Archaeology of Southwest Sardinia Project: New Data and Method from the Insular Mediterranean

Sardinia has played a vital integrative role in the Holocene Mediterranean, most notably—although not only—as a key locus in emergent maritime “Mediterraneanization” and as an object of contestation among mainland polities over the last three millennia. Yet, despite the florescence of Mediterranean survey archaeology, this standard method has only been sparsely employed in Sardinia, with a pronounced focus on large, urban, coastal sites. Accordingly, we have little understanding of the ebb and flow of human settlement in the Sardinian interior. This represents a significant lacuna in the study of Mediterranean archaeology and history. Here, we report data from the first two seasons of the Landscape Archaeology of Southwest Sardinia (LASS) Project, a multidisciplinary project designed to correct this bias and to investigate how episodic integration into—but also disintegration from—larger economic and political structures drove sociocultural and socioeconomic change in southwestern Sardinia over the Mid-Late Holocene.     

从“归纳”到“解释”:汉唐考古研究的趋势

政治史取向和类型学方法在保证汉唐考古取得很大成绩的同时,也制约了汉唐考古的研究范围、理论建设,并影响到汉唐考古研究者的知识结构和思维方式。新出土资料的减少迫使汉唐考古改变"能源型"发展模式,其他人文学科的发展则为汉唐考古向"技术型"转变带来机遇。汉唐考古研究者的主要工作从归纳总结考古资料,转变为以历史文献为基础,借鉴其他人文学科的方法论,对汉唐考古材料的内涵和意义进行解释,是汉唐考古研究的发展趋势。     

Between Apartheid,the Holocaust and the Nakba: Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Pilgrimage to Israel-Palestine (1989) and the Emergence of an Analogical Lexicon

ABSTRACT

On 22 December 1989, the anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu conducted a Christmas pilgrimage to Israel and the Occupied Territories. Tutu used his visit to relay political messages in support of the Palestinian liberation struggle and to criticize Israeli-South African ties, and his statements evoked sever criticism on the part of Zionist Jewish constituencies. Through a tighter focus on Tutu’s various public statements and their reception in the years leading up to the visit, this article traces the history of different sets of interlocking analogies in Tutu’s thought, positioning his 1989 visit to Israel-Palestine—neglected thus far in the critical literature —as a landmark in his thinking. In so doing, it offers a critical analysis of another instance of the Israel-apartheid analogy in the political struggle against the Israeli occupation. At the same time, it points to the genesis of the analogy in Tutu’s ongoing engagements with the suffering of Jews during the Holocaust.     

Relevant Beyond the Roman Period: Approaches to the Investigation,Analysis and Dissemination of Archaeological Investigations of the Rural Settlements and Landscapes of Roman Britain

Archaeology has been firmly embedded in the British planning systems for over a quarter of century, and development-led fieldwork is now by far the largest source of new information available to researchers. Custom and practice in the way that such work is conducted has evolved over this time, yet methodological innovation has been surprisingly limited. Using the data gathered in a major survey of the rural settlement of Roman Britain, this paper explores some themes in the way that commercial work is undertaken and seeks to open up a long-overdue debate about professional practice in a development-led context.     

Reimagining the City of Fire and Iron: A landscape archaeology of the Angkor-Period Industrial Complex of Preah Khan of Kompong Svay,Cambodia (ca. 9th to 13th centuries A.D.)

In the archaeological literature regional centers often receive far less attention than capital regions and the medieval Khmer Empire (ca. 9th to 15th centuries a.d.) is a classic case in point. At its height, the Khmer Empire stretched across much of mainland Southeast Asia, and it remains the most extensive dominion in the history of the region. To date, however, relatively little archaeological work has been completed outside of the capital of Angkor, and we have a limited understanding of the broader dynamics of the Empire. In this paper we begin to address this lacuna at the remote monumental complex of Preah Khan of Kompong Svay, the largest of all the Angkor-period regional centers. We describe the use of remote sensing and ground survey methods to produce the first comprehensive archaeological map of the site. The map data are used to evaluate conventional interpretations of the site as a major industrial complex, urban center and military outpost. The findings have implications for our understanding of early urbanism, industrial production and imperial expansion in the region.