The Maritime Battlefield Landscape In Archaeology

AJV Archaeology

This paper will situate maritime battlefield cultural landscape theory in the archaeological discipline. Stemming from a variety of cultural landscape theory, an archaeological study of a single maritime battlefield may lend a synchronic understanding of how soldiers in fortifications on land, sailors aboard naval vessels in bodies of water, and more recently, pilots of planes in the sky, attacked and defended an area during a time of conflict. A collection of archaeological studies of maritime battlefields may ultimately develop a diachronic and holistic understanding of how political powers attacked and defended the land, air, and sea in the face of threats both foreign and domestic. It is posed that this methodology will not only aid the researcher in identifying movements and motives of opposing forces during conflict but will also yield a better understanding of patterned human behavior on the maritime landscape which, when taken together with the terrestrial and marine landscapes, can contribute to the broader understanding of warfare over time. An understanding of battlefields and their interpretation and public archaeological application is also addressed.
Cover image available:http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3884y.ar146200