Bastions and Barbed Wire

Book excerpt: Various papers on the archaeology of conflict, including battlefield archaeology. The main focus of the volume is confinement, as expressed by a wide variety of contexts. Most obviously these include Nazi concentration camps, which are in need of credible archaeological attention (the editorial points out the dangers of the misappropriation of archaeological and scientific techniques by Holocaust deniers). Other forms of confinement are examined in papers focussing on the archaeology of island defences and siege sites, with the sieges of Leith from 1650 and of Fort William from 1646 both recently being subject to archaeological investigation. Other contributions include a study of shell holes and field defences from the battle of the Bulge (1944).