scott babis haecker fields of conflict

22841 Quicksilver Drive Dulles, Virginia 20166-2012 Tel. 703.661.1548 Fax 703.661.1547

Contact: Claire Noble Phone: 703.996.1017 [email protected] Publication Month: February 2009

Fields of Conflict Battlefield Archaeology from the Roman Empire

to the Korean War

Edited by Douglas Scott, Charles Haecker, and Lawrence Babits

978-1-59797-276-5 Paper $24.95 6 x 9 450 pages 158 images, maps, charts, and drawings

Battlefields are sites of international conflict, places where the course of history is

decided. They are also places of pride and community identity, where the sacrifice and the

courage of those who fought take on mythic status. Battlefield archaeology is a crucial tool for

understanding how battles are fought and won, often revealing shocking conclusions at odds with

the documentary record. Physical evidence shows whether battle plans succeeded or failed and

the effectiveness of planning versus luck.

Fields of Conflict reveals new interpretations of classic battles and explores how

archaeology is used regardless of geographic or temporal location. First showing the reader how

to identify a battlefield from earthworks and particular artifacts, the authors then foster a new

understanding of warfare by examining some of the best-preserved battlefields in the world.

From the ancient world through the Middle Ages, to World Wars I and II and the Korean War,

the analysis of what gets left behind at the close of epic struggles shows all too painfully how

men fought and died, and how decisions their commanders made shaped history even today. Yet

more than history, battlefield archaeology can be deeply meaningful to relatives of soldiers

today, who seek to know where their missing loved ones fought, died, and were possibly buried.

While military archaeology has always been popular, this groundbreaking volume is the first

attempt to create a cohesive chronological interpretation for future study and understanding.

of 2/Fields of Conflict

Douglas Scott is the coauthor of They Died With Custer (University of Oklahoma Press, 1998)

and a frequent commentator on the History Channel. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. Lawrence

Babits is the director and professor of the program in maritime studies specializing in military

issues at Eastern Carolina State University, and is the author of A Devil of a Whipping: The

Battle of Cowpens (University of North Carolina Press, 2000). He lives in Greenville, North

Carolina. Charles Haecker is an archaeologist at the National Park Service in Santa Fe and

coauthor of On the Prairie of Palo Alto: Historical Archaeology of the U.S.–Mexican War

Battlefield (Texas A&M University Press, 1997). He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Please send copies of any reviews or articles referencing this title to Claire Noble at the

letterhead address. For an author interview or any additional information, please contact her at

703.996.1017 or [email protected].

Title: Fields of Conflict: Battlefield Archaeology from the Roman Empire to

the Korean War Author: Douglas Scott, Charles Haecker, and Lawrence Babits ISBN: 978-1-59797-276-5 Price: $24.95 Details: 6 x 9, 450 pages, 158 images, maps, charts, and drawings Publication Date: February 2009

22841 Quicksilver Drive Dulles, Virginia 20166-2012 Tel. 703.661.1548 Fax 703.661.1547


About the Editors Douglas Scott, Charles Haecker,

and Lawrence Babits

Douglas Scott, Ph.D., is retired from the U.S. National Park Service. He is currently

an adjunct professor, department of anthropology and geography, University of Nebraska,

Lincoln, and an adjunct professor, masters of forensic science, Nebraska Wesleyan

University, Lincoln. He specializes in nineteenth-century military and battlefield sites

archaeology and forensics. He was awarded the Department of the Interior’s Distinguished

Service Award in 2002 for his innovative research in battlefield archaeology that started

with his work at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

Charles Haecker is an archaeologist with the National Park Service–Heritage

Partnerships Program, based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. For the past 14 years he has both

directed and assisted in the archaeological investigations of historic battlefields throughout

the United States including Alaska, as well as in Mexico and Great Britain. He is presently

investigating Apache War ambush locations and Apache encampment sites located in the

American Southwest and northern Mexico. He is co-author of On the Prairie of Palo Alto:

Historical Archaeology of the Battlefield (Texas A&M Press, 1997).

Lawrence Babits, Ph.D., is director of the Program in Maritime Studies at East

Carolina University. A battlefield historian, underwater archaeologist, and long-time

reenactor, he also coaches ECU’s rugby team and shoots black powder weapons in

competition.

22841 Quicksilver Drive Dulles, Virginia 20166-2012 Tel 703.661.1548 Fax 703.661.1547


Contact: Claire Noble Phone 703-996-1017 [email protected] Publication Date: February 2009

Douglas Scott


to the Korean War

Published by Potomac Books, Inc.



Lawrence Babits


to the Korean War




Charles Haecker


to the Korean War




Praise for Fields of Conflict

“These articles not only enhance the documentary record, but also provide significant new

data on the battles’ ebb and flow and tactics that do not exist in the written record, thus

reinterpreting, in many cases, the course of the action.”

—Choice

“Fields of Conflict presents battlefield archaeology as an extremely diverse and

exciting subset of traditional archaeology and is a major achievement in

the bibliography of both history and anthropology. Its clarion call for more research

and investigation will resound for decades to come!”

—David G. Orr, associate research professor of anthropology, Temple University

“Fields of Conflict will come to be recognized as a landmark work in the modern study,

analysis, and interpretation of military battlefields and the participants who fought on them.

The insights and understandings that the editors and contributors discuss are informed by

years of experimentation, practical experience, field-testing, and collaboration. This quality

of experience lends a level of authority to their presentations and toward the goal of

developing a body of method and theoretical models that can stimulate and direct the

professional, scholarly study of ‘fields of conflict.’”

—Clarence Geier, professor of anthropology, James Madison University

scott babis haecker fields of conflict

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