ABSTRACT
This is a book about warfare, and arguably the first book to draw together from around the globe insights into and examples of the materiality of conflicts, wars, battles, skirmishes and civil unrest that have dominated lives and experience over the past century. It is a critical archaeology of conflict, examining what survives, why that material record is important and what mechanisms exist for retaining it in a form that can benefit this and future generations, accepting the point that we can learn a great deal about culture and the manner in which it develops from how people fight (Howard 1994: 1; Carman 1997). It also examines different perceptions of warfare: cultural, social and personal. How do we feel about our troubled pasts, about a ‘heritage that hurts’? How do former combatants and warriors react to a heritage they helped create? And how will the retention of objects, structures and sites of conflict contribute to a more peaceful and tolerant society? To address this, a variety of approaches and examples are presented. Some of the contributions are detached, objective, ‘cold’; others are more immediate, intimate, hot and engaging. There is a place for both, we argue.
