Modern Conflict Archaeology

"Winterton's book is a good introductory effort on the haptic environment of World War I aviators and their personal artifacts."-The Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation Archaeology provides a fascinating insight into the lives of the aviators of the First World War. Their descriptions of the sensation of flying in the open cockpits of the primitive warplanes of the day, and the artifacts that have survived from these first years of aerial combat, give us a powerful sense of what their wartime service was like and chart the beginning of our modern understanding of aviation. But the subject hasn't been explored in any depth before, which is why Melanie Winterton's pioneering book is so timely. Hers is the first study of the trench art, souvenirs and lucky mascots associated with the Royal Flying Corps which, in an original way, tell us so much about the experience of flying on the Western Front a century ago. Extensive quotations from the memoirs of these early airmen are combined with an analysis of the artifacts themselves. They convey something of the fear and anxiety the airmen had to grapple with on a daily basis and bring out the full significance of the poignant souvenirs they left behind. Pieces of crashed aeroplane – wooden propellers, strips of linen, fragments of metal – were recycled and circulated during the war and afterwards became the focus of attention in the domestic home. As Melanie Winterton demonstrates, these items connected the living with the deceased, which is why they are so strongly evocative even today.

With firsthand sources and archeological research, this study explores life inside Nazi prisons during the occupation of the Channel Islands. Through most of the Second World War, Nazis occupied the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, two British Crown dependencies in the English Channel. With extensive research, archeologist Gilly Carr has uncovered the enduring legacies of this occupation. In Nazi Prisons in Britain, she shines a light on the lives of citizen resisters who became political prisoners on their own soil. Carr explores political prisoner consciousness and solidarity through the letters of the "Jersey 21" and the diaries of Frank Falla, Guernsey's best-known resister. Drawing on memoirs, poetry, graffiti, official archives, and material culture-as well as the words of war criminals, traitors, surrealist artists, and many others-she reveals what life was like inside these brutal Nazi prisons.

The Western Front has become, once again, and after 100 years, an important and increasingly popular tourist destination. The Centenary is already encouraging large numbers of visitors to engage with this highly poignant landscape of war and to commemorate the sacrifice and loss of a previous generation. Interest is also being sharpened in the places of war as battle-sites, trench-systems, bunkers and mine craters gain a clearer identity as war heritage. For the first time this book brings together the three strands of heritage, landscape and tourism to provide a fresh understanding of the multi-layered nature of the Western Front. The book approaches the area as a rich dynamic landscape which can be viewed in a startling variety of ways: historically, materially, culturally, and perceptually. To illustrate these two dominant interpretations of the regions landscape commemorative and heritage are highlighted and their relationship to tourism explored. Tourism is a lens through which these layers can be peeled away, and each understood and interacted with according to the individuals own knowledge, motivation, and degree of emotional engagement. Tourism is not regarded here as a passive phenomenon, but as an active agent that can determine, dictate and inscribe this evocative landscape. The Western Front: Heritage, Landscape and Tourism is a timely addition to our increasing interest in the First World War and the places where it was fought. It will be indispensable to those who seek a deeper understanding of the conflict from previously undervalued perspectives.