Archaeologies of Internment

The large-scale internment of civilians and soldiers is one of the defining characteristics of social and military conflict in the modern world. These internment camps, often hastily constructed and just as hastily destroyed after a conflict, create a significant but brief mark on the archaeological record. Due to both their temporary nature and often sensitive political circumstances, internment camps present a unique archaeological challenge. This innovative work explores the specific methods and theoretical approaches involved in the archaeology of internment camps, and presents a rare exploration of previously unexplored and under-explored archaeological sites. The contributions to this work cover international cases including Cold War prisons of eastern Berlin, concentration camps at Auschwitz, Japanese American internment camps in World War II, as well as Northern Ireland, Lapland, The Isle of Man, Argentina, Spain, and Fort Hood, Texas. The diverse set of case studies are thematically linked, resulting in a coherent set of methodologies and approaches. The archaeology of internment is an emergent interest area that builds on well-defined, established, fields of study. In many cases archaeologists are beginning to explore the material remains using the full scope of archaeological methodology, as well as the historical and oral-historical sources that are the privilege of historical archaeologists. These interdisciplinary studies have the unique ability to connect traumatic memories and historical outrages to fragments of material remains. These processes have powerful political, social and affective implications, particularly in societies where amnesia is institutional or where only certain historical narratives are permitted. This archaeology of internment camps puts the people back into the picture, and in so doing, might even become an archaeology of liberation.