The Excavation of a World War II Army Camp at Mortonhall,Edinburgh

Abstract

Archive material relating to Mortonhall, Edinburgh, indicates that there was a World War I army camp within the grounds of the estate, which was occupied by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. However, excavations carried out by CFA Archaeology Ltd during Scottish Water’s Edinburgh Drinking Water Project revealed physical remains which relate to a later World War II army camp. This appears to have been initially occupied by the 16th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry in 1940, who were billeted in tents, with the permanent camp being constructed by private contractors from 1942. Archive material suggests that the camp largely consisted of Nissen huts. This evidence is supported by the limited archaeological excavations which uncovered a number of concrete hut bases of the size pertaining to the standard dimensions of Nissen huts. However, there was also evidence of different architectural styles with a number of the buildings having been constructed from brick and asbestos. Reports that Mortonhall was a POW camp were probably unfounded, but it seems to have functioned as a camp for displaced Eastern Europeans. The exact date of closure is unknown, but the size of the camp was clearly being scaled down by the 1950s.     

Geophysics of Lager Wick forced labour camp,Grouville, Jersey,Channel Islands

Abstract

Three seasons of fieldwork at the forced labour camp of Lager Wick, Grouville, Jersey (2014–2016) employed resistivity, ground penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetic susceptibility to investigate areas of the camp. Resistivity and magnetic susceptibility produced the most useful results, whilst the GPR survey only revealed a modern pipe. The resistivity survey was undertaken in the south-west corner of the former camp close to the entrance gate posts, whilst the magnetic susceptibility survey was undertaken over the remains of one of the barrack huts along the Gorey Road frontage which had been burnt to the ground in 1943. The resistivity survey produced some high resistance anomalies that appear to resemble a demolition layer or a surface on which the huts were constructed. Magnetic susceptibility results showed zones of burning which appear to relate to the remains of one of the burnt huts; excavation revealed a stone/brick surface.     

Nails,tacks, and hinges: the archaeology of Camp Monticello,a World War II prisoner of war camp

ABSTRACT

“Provost Marshall General does not concur in the construction of outdoor dance floors at Monticello Internment Camp … Outdoor dance floors would be of no use at an internment camp,” the brigadier general responded to the chief of engineers in 1943. Camp Monticello, located in southeast Arkansas, was an Italian prisoner of war camp constructed according to a set of standardized building plans. Despite the brigadier general’s insistence that Camp Monticello “conform as far as possible to the standard plan,” archaeological research that combines archival research with a metal detector survey shows that the plans were influenced by local politics, access to materials, environmental conditions, and the everyday activities of the prisoners of war.     

10,000 Years in the Rocky Mountains: The Helen Lookingbill Site

Abstract

Located in a spring-fed meadow at 2620 masl, Helen Lookingbill is a stratified, high-altitude open site in the Washakie Range of the Absaroka Mountains in NW Wyoming. The site contains cultural material ranging in age from Paleoindian through Late Prehistoric periods. Although the densest cultural deposits date to the Early Archaic (8000–5000 b.p., uncalibrated), other time periods are well represented. A 10,400 year old layer comprises the earliest component (Haskett/Hell Gap) in the main excavation area; above it is a series of Late Paleoindian, Early Archaic, later Archaic, and Late Prehistoric components. The major materials at the site are chipped stone and bone, while a deer bone bed dating between 6500 and 6800 b.p. is contained within the main excavation block. In addition to deet; the site contains the remains of mountain sheep, bison, porcupine, and other mammals. Located on and near both quartzite and chert stone sources, the mountain meadow served as a prehistoric camp site and yielded evidence of tool production, heat treatment, refurbishing, and use. Interdisciplinary research provides much information pertinent to understanding the nature of site occupation with implications for regional cultural dynamics, high altitude hunter-gatherer adaptations, and site formation processes.     

Quotidian and Transgressive Practices in Nazi Forced Labor Camps: The Role of Objects

We argue that archaeological investigations of Nazi-period Lager should include two elements. The first is excavation. Research confined to non-invasive methods documenting visible remains, archival research, and oral history leads to small gains in existing knowledge. Archaeology’s full potential is realized when excavations are conducted allowing reconstruction of actual practices. Secondly, it is essential to evaluate spatially and quantitatively even the most inconspicuous objects. They are a fundamental means to understand conditions of suffering as well as transgressive actions by camp inhabitants. Excavations of a forced labor camp of Weser Flugzeugbau GmbH at Tempelhof airfield in Berlin serves as a case study.     

Nazi camps on British soil: the excavation of Lager Wick forced labour camp in Jersey,Channel Islands

Abstract

The forced labour camp of Lager Wick in Jersey, built during the German occupation of the Channel Islands in 1942, is the first Nazi camp to be excavated on British soil. This paper presents the findings from three seasons of fieldwork (2014–16), and includes an analysis of the architecture of internment and the signposts it leaves for that which does not survive. It also draws into sharp relief the link between archaeology and oral testimony and the way that archaeology can both back up and disprove the historical record. Finally, this paper examines the important role that archaeology can play in uncovering and helping to normalize ‘taboo heritage’.     

Multi-disciplinary investigations at PoW Camp 198, Bridgend,S. Wales: site of a mass escape in March 1945

Abstract

The largest escape of German Prisoner of War (PoW) in WW2 was in March 1945 from Camp 198, situated in Bridgend, South Wales, UK. Since camp closure the site has become derelict, and has not been scientifically investigated. This paper reports on the search to locate the PoW escape tunnel that was dug from Hut 9. This hut remains in remarkable condition, with numerous PoW graffiti still present. Also preserved is a prisoner-constructed false wall in a shower room behind which excavated material was hidden, though the tunnel entrance itself has been concreted over. Near-surface geophysics and ground-based LiDAR were used to locate the tunnel. Mid-frequency GPR surveys were judged optimal, with magnetometry least useful due to the above-ground metal objects. Archaeological excavations discovered the intact tunnel and bed-board shoring. With Allied PoW escape camp attempts well documented, this investigation provides valuable insight into German escape efforts.     

The Politics of Nature at the Former Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to develop a new approach in Holocaust studies, namely an environmental history of the Holocaust. A case study of the former concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau demonstrates the extent of the entanglement of the politics of memory and the politics of nature, or political ecology, to use Bruno Latour’s term. I suggest that memorials should be treated as an environment, and thus explored as an assemblage of human and nonhuman (f)actors. Analysing both the official preservation strategies adopted by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum as well as artistic projects (including ?ukasz Surowiec’s Berlin-Birkenau), I consider commemorative practices’ environmental impact. My investigation thus primarily focuses on the role of the figure of the tree-as-witness in preservation work and in the use of powerful herbicides (namely Roundup) in preserving traces of the camp. This study could open the way to further comparative studies of ecocide and genocide.     

Review Article — The Buildings of England Series — the Second Editions

Abstract

An account of the excavation by members of the Somerset Industrial Archaeological Society of a stone built engine house dating from the mid-nineteenth century. Documentary evidence indicated that a portable engine pumped and wound from Smoky Bottom mine. The archaeological and historical evidence has enabled a conjectural restoration of the building and machinery.     

Archaeology and conservation at Herculaneum: from the Maiuri campaign to the Herculaneum Conservation Project

Abstract

This article looks at two periods in the history of the archaeological site of Herculaneum (Italy) and the role of the archaeologist there. Amedeo Maiuri was in charge of the first major excavation campaign that uncovered the site from 1927 to 1961, but was also responsible for the site's restoration, presentation and maintenance. Much can be learnt from his approach, particularly with regard to site management – a fixed team of specialists continuously cared for the site – and his creation of what was effectively an open-air museum. The second example looks at the author's experiences with the Herculaneum Conservation Project, where the emphasis is on conservation interventions rather than excavation, but where the archaeologist has an important role in the conservation team and also has the opportunity to make new archaeological discoveries. The article concludes that the role of the archaeologist must evolve to include a professional responsibility for archaeological heritage that extends beyond its excavation.     

Portuguese coarsewares in early modern England: reflections on an exceptional pottery assemblage from Southampton

Abstract

The study of a large hoard of Merida-type ware from Portugal found during excavation in Southampton prompts an examination of Portuguese pottery in 16th- and 17th-century England, its trade, uses and context.     

Mid eighteenth-century tin-glazed earthenwares from the Delftfield Pottery,Glasgow: Excavation at the Broomielaw, 1975

Abstract

This report describes an excavation on the Broomielaw quayside opposite the site of the Delftfield Company’s works, which recovered kiln-wasters from an early phase of production. Appendix I covers all ceramic exports from Port Glasgow, 1742 to 1773, and some from Greenock. Appendix II contains notes on the family and other connections of some of the original potters who were recruited from Lambeth and elsewhere in 1748.     

Medieval Britain in 1957

Abstract

DATA AMASSED during the recent excavation of an early medieval settlement in the Canton of Jura, Switzerland, offered the rare opportunity of conducting an in-depth intrasite spatial analysis of an entire hamlet. Some of the problems encountered and a selection of the results produced during this research are presented. The focus is primarily on methodological issues: data loss during mechanical excavation; the choice between statistical or visual analysis; and distinguishing the effects of taphonomy from patterning due to cultural activities.     

The camp and the question of community

Recent literature in camp geographies has sought to emphasize the significance of political agency among camp residents, particularly in refugee camps, as part of a critical reaction against the highly influential Agambenian conceptual vocabulary of exception and bare life. The concept of community has been integral to this body of work, with diverse accounts of the camp implicitly or explicitly positioning community as the natural scale through which camp resident and inmate agency is formulated, and yet there has hitherto been little research reflecting directly on the meaning that community takes on in the specific context of the camp. In this article we adopt Roberto Esposito's critique of the concept of community to problematize the assumption that camp communities necessarily constitute a space of empowerment and agency for camp residents and inmates. Drawing on Esposito's genealogical account of communitas (2010), whereby community is encountered not in terms of a property shared among individuals but instead as the loss of individuality and other forms of ‘the proper’, we suggest that the implementation of community, while generative of agency, is also fundamental to camp authorities and related regimes of power. Furthermore, we argue that the operation of camp communities includes its own forms of politics that are specific to the exceptional space of the camp and that potentially expose individuals to violence. We develop this argument through an experimental reading of communitas in relation to the two empirical contexts that have been most influential on the trajectory of camp studies within geographical debates, the concentration camp and the refugee camp, represented in this paper by Auschwitz and the contemporary archipelago of Serbian refugee camps respectively. The ambivalent account of power relationships emerging from these readings suggests that Esposito's rendering of community may have important analytic value in investigating the complexity of camp spatialities and the distinctive co-articulation of power and agency therein.     

On the challenges and benefits of indoor archaeology: 15 years at the Archeodome (Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village,South Dakota)

Abstract

Field archaeology is normally associated with outdoor excavation and exposure to the natural environment. Archaeological excavations have adapted to a wide spectrum of these conditions, but the recent prominence of archaeological sites as tourist attractions and educational facilities has occasionally led to dramatically different environments for the archaeological recovery, interpretation, and preservation of evidence, including facilities that permit indoor excavation. This article explores 15 years of experience at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village in South Dakota. An “Archeodome” covering part of the site represents a non-traditional excavation and preservation environment that presents considerable benefits and challenges for archaeologists. The structure provides the basis for evaluating the nature of indoor excavation within its archaeological and educational context and provides a cautionary note for archaeologists, heritage groups, tourist boards, and others interested in the preservation of archaeological sites. Though this article focuses on the Mitchell site, the information reported has broad implications for sites where structures cover archaeological deposits.     

Settlement networks and the organization of lithic tool production in the Late Prehistoric period (a.d. 1000–1780), Lower Nueces River Valley,South Texas

Abstract

Evidence from one of several Late Prehistoric settlement networks in the Lower Nueces River Valley in Texas demonstrates that base camps were surrounded by smaller-sized temporary camps. Local groups utilized nearby stone quarries, moved raw material to their settlements and reduced cores, preforms, and bifaces into tools for domestic use and portable toolkits. The Lower Nueces River Valley settlement organization and tool production during this period suggest restricted mobility, base camp sedentism, and abundant resource supply. This organizational structure promoted a complex foraging economy and perhaps the emergence of territorial clustering.     

Plant macroremains from the Roman harbour of Pisa (Italy)

Abstract

Results relating to the identification of macroscopic plant remains (leaves, fruits, seeds) discovered during the archaeological excavation of the Roman harbour of Pisa, in Tuscany, Italy are reported. The plant samples include the cultivated species Prunus spp., Corylus, Olea, Vicia, Juglans and the nemoral wild species Salix spp., Quercus spp., Fagus, Ulmus, Alnus. The remains of cultivated plants — fragments of fruits and seeds — were perhaps part of the boats' cargo or stores for the crew's meals. In the case of the wild taxa, the simultaneous presence of fruit and leaves, suggests that the remains recovered came from the forest vegetation bordering the area of excavation and the adjacent higher grounds, thus delineating a new vegetation landscape for the ager pisanus.     

War on the Mind

Abstract

The new biology, a formidable triad of the disciplines of biochemistry, genetics and cell biology, has given an entirely new insight into disease processes. It is forcefully argued here that this interdisciplinary approach should be applied to tropical diseases. The detailed strategy and possible engineering of a malaria vaccine, as developed at the author's Institute, are cited as an example. But finally, society must decide if the new biology is to be used for research on the diseases of the rich or the poor peoples of this planet.