This book presents archaeological research from places of war, violence, protest and oppression of the 20th and the 21st century; sites where the material relics give a deep insight to fateful events - a shadow of war. Alongside renewed interest in National Socialism and the Holocaust, archaeological interest started in former concentration camps of the Nazi dictatorship. The focus was on the central places of the camps, such as the gas chambers, the crematoria, or execution sites, as well as prisoners' barracks and the parade ground. In many cases, these sites revealed forgotten and vanished structures, where archaeological excavations can offer the possibility for commemorating the victims. The research has since widened and includes other sites of Nazi dictatorship and the Second World War, as well as the First World War, the Cold War and locations of civil wars and civilian protest against state authorities and against companies and corporations in many parts of the world. In order to come to a comprehensive understanding contemporary archaeology must take a global perspective.
Archaeological finds often shed light on daily life, revealing survival conditions in the internment camps; the lives of people and their fighting and dying on battlefields and in trenches. Likewise, the relics of politically active people in protest camps give an impression of their commitment in civilian protest. Sometimes material remains can help to tell an alternative or balancing narrative to the state's official recorded history. The enormous volume and diverse range of material culture presents challenges and opportunities. Through careful archaeological investigation, we can present different and new perspectives that are not recorded clearly in existing written, pictorial or oral archives. The merging and examination of all sources together is what enables us to understand the complexity of the history. This book will also present future directions in contemporary archaeology that will help bring the study focus beyond sites and assemblages of war and protest.
Author Biography:
Prof. Claudia Theune is Professor for Historical Archaeology at the University of Vienna with a special/great/deep interest in contemporary archaeology. She studied Prehistoric and early medieval Archaeology, social Anthropology, Christian Archaeology and geology at the Universities in Marburg and Bonn, Germany (1979-1988). In 1988 she received her PhD at the University of Marburg for her thesis on Early medieval graves in the western part of the lake Constance (Fruhmittelalterliche Grabfunde im westlichen Bodenseegebiet (Hegau)), published in 1999: Fruhmittelalterliche Grabfunde im Hegau. She worked as a scientific researcher at the University of Marburg. In 1994 she became Assistant Professor at the Department of Prehistoric and Medieval Archaeology at the Humboldt-University, Berlin. She did her Habilitation in 2001 on the Changes of structures in the Alamannia on the basis of archaeological sources. (Strukturveranderungen in der Alamannia vom 3. - 7. Jahrhundert aufgrund archaologischer Quellen), published in 2004: Germanen und Romanen in der Alamannia Since 2007 she was appointed Full Professor for Medieval and Historical Archaeology at the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna. Main Research Fields: Early Medieval funeral and social archaeology Medieval archaeology of marginal landscapes, urban archaeology Archaeology of the contemporary past (research projects in the former concentration camps of Sachsenhausen (Brandenburg, Germany), Mauthausen (Upper Austria, Austria) and its sub camps (Loibl-North, Carinthia, Austria; Gunskirchen, Upper Austria, Austria), massgrave Rechnitz (Burgenland, Austria), Five Islands, Trinidad and Tobago) Esteem factors: President of the European Association: RURALIA The Jean-Marie Pesez Conferences on Medieval Rural Archaeology (since 2014) and National Representative of Austria (since 2010). President of the Austrian Association for Medieval Archaeology (since 2012). Member of scientific boards: DFG-Project: Der hochmittelalterliche Landesausbau und die Entwicklung der Siedlungsstrukturen in Brandenburg, Cooperation partner. (PhD-supervisor of Greta Civis: Mull in der mittelalterlichen Wustung von Diepensee, Brandenburg: 2012-2015). VU Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), The Netherlands: The Heritage and Memory of Conflict and War: 2012 - 2015. University of Cambridge: Lager Wick on Jersey, Channel Islands: 2012 - 2015. Freie Universtitat Berlin/Landesdenkmalamt Berlin: Excavation on the Tempelhofer Flugfeld (Ausgrabungen auf dem Tempelhofer Flugfeld): 2012 - 2013. Deutscher Verband der Archaologen: Committee of experts: Archaeology of Modern times (Fachausschuss Archaologie der Moderne): 2015 - ongoing. University of Brno: Archaeological committee Pohansko, 2013 - ongoing. Bezirkeshauptmannschaft Perg: Expert advisor for the National Socialist tunnel system in St. Georgen / Gusen "Bergkristall" - Section Archaeology and Analyses of Aerial Photographs: 2014 - 2015. Peer reviewing activities for funding organizations: Czech Science Foundation / Grantova Agentura Ceske Republiky; National Science Center Poland / Narodowe Centrum Nauki; Croatian Science Foundation / Hrvatska zaklada za znanost; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; Wissenschaftliche Kommission des Landes Niedersachsen; Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung, Berlin; Osterreichische Nationalbank; National Geographic Society International scientific co-operations: Project: The Five Islands: Archaeology and History (Archaeology of an internment camp). Cooperation with the University of the West Indies, Campus St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, Faculty of Humanities and Education Recent key publications (see also academia.edu) Cl. Theune, Archaologie an Tatorten des 20. Jahrhunderts. 2. Durchgesehene und erweiterte Auflage (Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft: Darmstadt 2016) Th. Kersting / Cl. Theune / A. Drieschner / A. Ley / Th. Lutz, Archaologie und Gedachtnis. NS-Lagerstandorte: Erforschen - Bewahren - Vermitteln. Interdisziplinare Konferenz im Archaologischen Landesmuseum Brandenburg an der Havel 17. bis 19. September 2015. Denkmalpflege in Berlin und Brandenburg, Arbeitsheft 4/2016. (Imhof-Verlag, Petersberg 2016) Cl. Theune, An der Grenze. Die spatmittelalterliche und fruhneuzeitliche Burg Klausegg im Lungau. Museumsportal. Zeitschrift des Lungauer Museumsvereins 3 (2012-2014) (Tamsweg 2014). Cl. Theune, (Un)sichtbarkeiten. Aufgedeckte Spuren und Relikte. Archaologie im ehemaligen Konzentrationslager Mauthausen. In: Daniela Allmeier / Inge Manka / Peter Mortenbock / Rudolf Scheuvens (Hg.), Erinnerungsorte in Bewegung. Zur Neugestaltung des Gedenkens an Orten nationalsozialistischer Verbrechen (Transcript Verlag Bielefeld 2016) 199-218 (peer reviewed). Cl. Theune, Transformations in the Roman West. The Case of the Alamanni. In: S. James / St. Kmnicek (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Roman Germany Cl. Theune, Archaeology and remembrance: the Contemporary Archaeology of Concentration camps, Prisoner-of-war-camps and Battlefields: In: N. Mehler (ed.), Historical Archaeology in Central Europe. Society of Historical Archaeology Special Publications (Rockville 2013) 241-260 (peer reviewed). Cl. Theune, Goldbergbau im Gasteiner Tal. In: Cl. Theune / G. Scharrer-Liska / E. H. Huber / Th. Kuhtreiber (Hrsg.), Stadt - Land -Burg. Festschrift fur Sabine Felgenhauer-Schmiedt zum 70. Geburtstag. (Marie-Leidorf-Verlag: Rahden / Westf. 2013) 395-404. Cl. Theune, Identity Establishing Heritage Sites? Memory, Remembrance and Commemoration at Monuments and Memorials. In: R. O'Riagain / C. N. Popa, Archaeology and the (de)construction of National and Supra-National Polities. Archaeological Review from Cambridge Vol. 27.2 November 2012, 161-177. (peer reviewed) Cl. Theune, Das Gedachtnis der Dinge. In: H. Berger/M. Dejnega/R. Fritz/A. Prenninger (Hrsg.), Politische Gewalt und Machtausubung im 20. Jahrhundert. Zeitgeschichte, Zeitgeschehen und Kontroversen. [Festschr. G. Botz] (Wien, Koln, Weimar 2011) 543-560.
