Body as weapon: the archaeology of a war victim’s narrative

ABSTRACT

The soldier's body is the most important subject of violence and destruction in war. Humans live primarily through their body in the material world, and when the body is destroyed, their whole existence is affected, both physically and non-physically. Therefore, the first locus on which we can observe the effects of war and violence is the human body, mainly soldiers. In modern wars, the soldier’s body is combined with weapons and machines of war, but is also the first target of killing whether in attack or defence. On the one hand it is targeted and killed, but on the other hand the body itself targets and kills. In warfare, bodies are trained to be the mechanism of killing and they are employed on battlefields according to the political objectives of their sovereign power. Thus, the soldier’s body becomes a weapon separated from the individual human body by the political authority.

KEYWORDS:

• Soldier’s body
• objective violence
• archaeology of war
• fighter’s body

Acknowledgments

Each scientific research is the result of co-operation and consultation among various people who play a different role. The roles that are sometimes small, but they have a big impact. I would like to express my deep gratitude to Professor Leila Papoli and Professor Amir Sadegh Naghshineh, for their valuable and constructive suggestions during the planning and development of this research work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hassan Musavi Sharghi

Hassan Musavi Sharghi is a Masters Graduate of Archaeology and researcher on Archaeology of the contemporary past with a focus on modern war and violence.