Digging Franco's Trenches: An Archaeological Investigation of a Nationalist Position from the Spanish Civil War

Abstract

As part of a project on the archaeology of the civil war and dictatorship in Spain, a Nationalist position was excavated in the village of Abánades (Guadalajara), which was occupied between March 1937 and the end of the war. The sector that was excavated comprised a trench, two dugouts, and a stone-and-concrete covered trench. The findings reveal more about daily life in General Franco's trenches, while they also offer insights into totalitarian ideology, international involvement in the conflict, and the war economy.     

Suggestions for the Extension of the British Archaeological Association

Restoration work shows that the solar wing of Barnston Manor originally had a second wing with garderobe similar to that at Aydon Castle. Archaeological evidence indicates that the present halls of both houses are secondary, and historical evidence is presented to explain the sequence of development on each site.     

Countryside-versus-City in European Thought: German and British Anti-Urbanism between the Wars

The idea that the city is a place of sin and immorality is as old as urban civilization. But what does anti-urban thought mean in societies which are highly urbanized under the conditions of modern industrialism? Furthermore, is anti-urbanism in the interwar period a German völkisch phenomenon––one further stride on Germany's special path? And what does rural revival and the “back-to-the-land” cult mean in Great Britain, the first industrial nation? This article seeks to provide an answer to these questions by exploring anti-urbanist writing between the End of the First World War and 1933 in Germany, and 1939 in Britain. By examining two key themes it aims to show that the clear-cut distinction between German anti-urban radicalisation and the West's coming to terms with urbanisation cannot be maintained. Firstly, attention will be drawn to the ambiguity of perceptions of the city in the writings of “Conservative Revolutionary” authors in the Weimar Republic. In a second step, the British “back-to-the-land” movement, whose advocates developed comprehensive anti-urban third-way theories in the interwar period and were themselves part of a broader popular anti-industrial movement and a rural cult throughout the 1930s, will be examined.     

Political iconoclasm: the destruction of Eccleshall Castle during the English Civil Wars

SUMMARY: The mid 17th century in the British Isles was dominated by a period of political and religious turmoil known as the English Civil Wars. The two sides, Royalist and Parliamentarian, became associated with very different forms of Christianity, with the latter being identified with Puritanism, an extremely austere religion whose supporters became associated with iconoclasm. However, this paper explores the motivations for the damage caused at the Bishop of Lichfield’s palace at Eccleshall, Staffordshire, and suggests its destruction was caused by politics rather than religion, thus demonstrating the need for a more nuanced examination of slighting during this turbulent time.     

Balancing the Elements: An Archaeological Story

In this piece of short fiction, readers will explore the experiences of four American archaeologists as they complete an archaeological excavation impacted by laws at the local (Massachusetts State) and national (federal USA) level. All four archaeologists are in various stages of their careers in archaeology and find themselves working together for the same privatized Cultural Resource Management (CRM) firm on an unexpectedly complex and sensitive site excavation. Here readers are urged to consider how archaeologists’ previous experiences (both personal and professional) impact site excavations, and how, in turn, each project leaves an impression on an archaeological professional moving forward. They are further invited to relate the experiences of the archaeologists in the story to their own—possibly very different—experiences. While site context is key at every excavation, is the human context equally relevant?     

Proceedings of the Central Committee of the British Archaeological Association

Factors that determined the location of mints and the function and supply of bronze coinage in the Roman Empire during the fourth century A.D. are considered. The survey is based primarily on a comparison of site assemblages which cover the century, although in their absence hoards provide useful comparisons. Aspects of minting activity and coin circulation in both the western and the eastern empire are discussed, but the distribution of the most satisfactory material has biased the survey to Britain and the German provinces. It is argued that imperial policy towards the mints was strongly influenced by development and change in regional economies.     

Ahvola 1918: Archaeological Reconnaissance of a Finnish Civil War Battlefield

Abstract

The Finnish Civil War (1918) has received very little attention from the archaeologists until recently. This paper describes the first archaeological investigation of a Civil War battlefield in the Karelian Isthmus, nowadays northwest Russia. The battlefield of Ahvola, which saw one of the decisive battles of the war, was surveyed briefly in November 2007. With relatively little subsequent landuse, the general landscape has remained roughly similar to that of the early twentieth century, and the remains of field fortifications have been preserved unexpectedly well. Thus the fields of Ahvola hold high potential for more widespread archaeological studies in future. The present survey, along with two earlier surveys of Finnish Civil War battlefields, provides important base data for future research on the subject.     

The Freedom of Archaeological Research: Archaeological Heritage Protection and Civil Rights in Austria (and Beyond)

Archaeologists like to think that heritage protection laws serve the purpose of protecting all archaeology from damage. Thus, provisions like that of §11 (1) Austrian Denkmalschutzgesetz or Art. 3 i-ii of the Valletta Convention are interpreted as a blanket ban on archaeological fieldwork ‘unauthorized’ by national heritage agencies, and a general prohibition against archaeological field research by non-professionals. The Austrian National Heritage Agency, the Bundesdenkmalamt, interprets the Austrian law in this way. Using the Austrian example as a case study, this paper demonstrates that this interpretation must be wrong, since, if it were true, it would revoke a fundamental civil right enshrined both in the Austrian constitution and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union: the unconditional freedom of research, which applies to archaeological field research as to any other kind of academic research, and extends equally to every citizen.