ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines how archaeology, as a suite of distinctive methods and techniques designed to document and interpret material expressions artefacts, places, buildings, can make unique scientific contributions to the study of recent warfare. Archaeologists, through scientific excavation standards, are increasingly exploring the new understandings that can be obtained through analysis of the material culture of recent conflict sites. A large number of heritage and archaeological organisations combined to mark the centenary of the First World War in the United Kingdom. The physical investigation of military sites complementing archival sources is a technique that distinguishes an archaeological approach from a historical approach. In terms of professional practice, surveys will continue to be made of less understood classes of sites leading to national and local protection and heritage decision making. Air photographs provide an effective means of prospecting for undocumented military sites and activity and for plotting elements of military landscapes that might be unsurveyed.
