TY - JOUR

T1 - Problems Extracting Material Culture in the Archaeology of Battlefields.

AU - Ushchipovskiy, Sergey

AU - Mukhamadeyeva, Irina

AU - Saenko, Natalya

N1 - Ushchipovskiy, S., Mukhamadeyeva, I. & Saenko, N. Problems Extracting Material Culture in the Archaeology of Battlefields // Hist Arch (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-024-00527-2

PY - 2024/11/19

Y1 - 2024/11/19

N2 - AbstractThis article aims to identify typical problems and challenges in the contextualization, dating, distribution, and classification offinds from battlefields and explore ways to overcome these difficulties. Using comparative analysis, the article examines thefindings of different field studies and investigates the attribution of artifacts from major battlefields that have beenextensively researched over the past decade. Our study focused on archaeological sites that, in the opinion of the authors,most clearly demonstrate the typical problems characteristic of the archaeology of battlefields as a separate archaeologicalsubdiscipline. The research found several systematic difficulties and challenges in the study of battlefields that do notdepend on the time period, geographical region, or cultures to which they belong. The following problems have beenidentified: a small number of finds, the difficulty of determining and dating remains of material culture, mixing of culturalstrata and relocation of finds, difficulties in localizing the place of the battle, and difficulties due to the problem of burying thebattle participants and military equipment. The article also reviews methods for overcoming these difficulties when workingwith different cultural strata. The results can be used in the preparation for field studies of battle sites and relatedarchaeological areas, in the development of methodology, and analytical and paleographic studies of historical conflicts. ©The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Society for Historical Archaeology 2024.Author Keywords

AB - AbstractThis article aims to identify typical problems and challenges in the contextualization, dating, distribution, and classification offinds from battlefields and explore ways to overcome these difficulties. Using comparative analysis, the article examines thefindings of different field studies and investigates the attribution of artifacts from major battlefields that have beenextensively researched over the past decade. Our study focused on archaeological sites that, in the opinion of the authors,most clearly demonstrate the typical problems characteristic of the archaeology of battlefields as a separate archaeologicalsubdiscipline. The research found several systematic difficulties and challenges in the study of battlefields that do notdepend on the time period, geographical region, or cultures to which they belong. The following problems have beenidentified: a small number of finds, the difficulty of determining and dating remains of material culture, mixing of culturalstrata and relocation of finds, difficulties in localizing the place of the battle, and difficulties due to the problem of burying thebattle participants and military equipment. The article also reviews methods for overcoming these difficulties when workingwith different cultural strata. The results can be used in the preparation for field studies of battle sites and relatedarchaeological areas, in the development of methodology, and analytical and paleographic studies of historical conflicts. ©The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Society for Historical Archaeology 2024.Author Keywords

KW - archaeological dating; archaeological stratification; battlefield; cultural heritage; cultural strata Correspondence Address

KW - archaeological stratification

KW - battlefield

KW - archaeological dating

KW - cultural strata

KW - cultural heritage

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/16b050bb-47bb-34cf-a7ad-061d84189f04/

U2 - 10.1007/s41636-024-00527-2

DO - 10.1007/s41636-024-00527-2

M3 - Article

JO - Historical Archaeology

JF - Historical Archaeology

SN - 0440-9213

ER -