Military and battlefield archaeology has always been viewed as a sub-discipline to that of traditional historical archaeology. Once considered the pursuit of learned history professors and their disciples today, military archaeology has flourished around the world into what can only best be described as a hugely popular pastime, and in some instances a multi-million-pound business. With technologies available today, even the student on the most modest of budgets can become an archaeologist (if only in the layman’s term). Yet despite it’s popularity in unearthing answers to the questions of our turbulent past, there are surprisingly few texts available on what is arguably a fascinating and historically important subject. The objective herein is to present an analysis of various battles fought around the world from medieval times to the present, and the archaeology recovered from investigations carried out by professionally sanctioned groups and hobbyists. The context here includes general battlefield recovered artefacts, military aviation crash sites, Second World War pill boxes, air raid shelters, POW Camps and other structures. There is also emphasis on Britain’s ally in both world wars, the United States of America, examining the artefacts, wreckology, structures and dumping grounds left behind by the American military forces at the end of the Second World War both in the UK and Europe. Military Archaeology: How Detectorists and Major Finds Improve our Understanding of History is a valuable addition to the military and literary analysis of the archaeology of warfare from the Boudiccan uprising to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.

TIM HEATH was born into a military family. Following the successful debut of Hitler’s Girls, Tim has published a number of titles, expertly ‘shining a light’ on the overlooked parts of an otherwise heavily scrutinised period of modern history. JULIAN EVAN-HART helped to organise the world’s first archaeological excavation of a Zeppelin crash site and searched in the deserts of Jordan for any tangible evidence of Lawrence of Arabia. He has written or contributed to around 27 published books on metal detecting and aviation history and is currently the editor of Treasure Hunting magazine.