Fields of Conflict Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
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Over the past few days an number of the project team have been attending the 5th Fields of Conflict conference in Gent (Belgium). FOC exists to bring together specialists in Conflict Archaeology from around the globe. Delegates included Doug Scott, who virtually invented battlefield archaeology when he investigated the site of Little Bighorn, Glenn Foard, who has worked on Civil War sites from the UK and Susana and Achim Wilbers-Rost from the site of the Varian disaster (AD9) at Kalkriese. Inevitably the range of papers was wide, diverse and stimulating.
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Project members Peter Masters, Birger Stichelbaut, Jon Price and Martin Brown all presented on Great War Archaeology, heavily drawing on the Plugstreet Project. Peter and Birger spoke on their remote sensing work, marrying geophysics, aerial photographs and map regression work, wowing the audience with their results. Jon spoke about methodological approaches to excavation. Martin spoke on the subject of looking over the parapet, which explored the wider frame in which excavations on the Western Front exist – militarised landscapes, civilians, training and the international links of the war.
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Also speaking was Veerle Hendricks from the Flemish Heritage Institute, the VIOE. Veerle is writing up the A19 excavations around Ieper from 2002 onwards, including sites dug by No Man’s Land. It was her first major conference paper and she performed very well and wasn’t fazed by the eminent panel of delegates.
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It wasn’t all work and we did enjoy some lovely Belgian beer, including some rarities and oddities, while Oude Druide is nice we weren’t so keen on Spook! Birger was an excellent local guide and we especially salute the Ratz Bar, opposite the Opera House!
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Poodlefaking Friday, October 10th, 2008
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You may well ask…
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It’s a term used in the Indian Army (pre 1947) by officers of other junior officers who were seen out with ladies without their Commanding Officers’ permission.
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One team member was accused of it by the University Officer Training Corps’ regular officer when at Cambridge.
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We were surprised to see it here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
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In an article of forgotten words you still love…
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Photographs by Frank Hurley Friday, October 3rd, 2008
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Frank Hurley was the photographer on the Shackleton expedition to the South Pole and then went on to accompany Anzac 3 Div at the Battle of Messines, where he took some remarkable photographs of the battlefield.
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Hurley felt that his pictures did not capture the full horror of the things he had seen so manipulated images, creating composites of scenes. Some thought this was clearly wrong but others feel it was an appropriate artistic response to the war.
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An new exhibition at Charleston Farm outside Lewes in Sussex addresses this issue and displays a number of his images.
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http://www.charleston.org.uk/visit/gallery.html
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Charleston has its own Great War heritage of a kind in that the Bloomsbury Set holed up there to avoid zeppelin attacks and to be pacifists. Meanwhile the nearby Firle Place was used as a hospital for Australian troops.
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You can see Hurley pictures on the AWM website:
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www.awm.gov.au/captured/official/hurley.asp
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You can also find examples elsewhere on this blog where they are accompanied by photos of the archaeology, landscape and team inspired by Hurley’s work and taken by Ian, our own photographer, who was using a plate camera, just like Hurley’s own.
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Read All About It Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
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The Plugstreet Project is featured in this month’s “Britain at War” Magazine – available in the UK via WH Smith and Sainsbury’s and all good newsagents.
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BAW includes a double page spread on the discovery and excavation of the Australian casualty. It includes both text and a number of photographs of the site, the finds and archaeologists at work.
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www.britain-at-war-magazine.com
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Thanks to our good friend Mark Khan for the publicity and for his journalistic skill in drafting the story.
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Britain at War will include a larger piece on the dig in a coming edition. In the meantime this month includes interesting pieces from both World Wars, including a fascinating article on the siege of Tsingtao in 1914, when a combined Anglo-Japanese force assaulted and took the German colony in China. I suspect I’m not alone in never having heard of this action before!
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