DRI archaeologists edit book on preserving the material culture of 20th Century Conflicts
The archaeology of remnants of the Cold War at the Nevada Test Site in southern Nevada is described by Desert Research Institute archaeologists in two chapters of a new book about preserving the physical remains from conflicts in the 20th Century. Drs. Colleen M. Beck and William Gray Johnson of DRI are also the editors, along with Dr. John Schofield of the English Heritage Monuments Protection Programme, of Matériel Culture: The Archaeology of 20th Century Conflict.
The book’s 26 chapter topics range from discussion of an artistic culture based on expended shell casings beginning with World War I, to numerous World War II and Viet Nam war projects, and even to relatively recent socio-political conflicts such as massive apartheid evictions of black communities in South Africa and the efforts to identify Argentina’s “disappeared.”
Johnson, an associate research professor in DRI’s Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, said the book is a seminal work on the examination of cultural, social and personal perceptions of conflict in the last century.
“It is also about the role of archaeologists in our modern world. Too often we are relegated to a role of only being able to illuminate prehistory or history so distant that no living persons exist to tell about it. In this volume we highlight the strides of archaeologists in challenging this role. Whether it is about the conduct of archaeological data gathering or theorizing about relationships between sets of material culture, we believe the discipline as a whole is expanded and improved.”
The 348-page book illustrates the difficulties and challenges in preserving, presenting and interpreting historical evidence from modern conflicts, as well as the significant level of controversy and introspection these preservation efforts can generate in their respective nations and communities. The book was published by Routledge as the 44th issue in the One World Archaeology series organized by the World Archaeological Congress.
A nonprofit, statewide division of the University and Community College System of Nevada, DRI pursues a full-time program of basic and applied environmental research on a local, national, and international scale. Nearly 400 full- and part-time scientists, technicians, and support staff conduct some 150 research projects at DRI annually. More than 80 percent of DRI's annual $33 million operating budget consists of research grants and contracts obtained by its scientists. The balance is received from the state of Nevada for administrative costs.