It’s All in the Backfill: Scrap Heaps, Explosives, and Nausea. Stirring the Soil of a Former WWII Military Base

ABSTRACT

Within an archaeology of the contemporary, sites and material remains of the Second World War have in recent years been set more prominently on the agenda of European heritage archaeology. This article presents observations made during archaeological site monitoring of the conversion and remediation of a former WWII military base in Germany. In the course of the project, the sensitivity of the site and its find material against the backdrop of the German history of World War II had to be constantly assessed. Archaeological methods and practices had to be adapted to the specific requirements of the site. Conflicting agendas of various actors and stakeholders involved had to be evaluated, as well as the risks posed by the site’s contamination with unexploded ordnance. Indeed, the backdirt itself, just like the find material it contained, turned out to be a contested and hazardous entity.

KEYWORDS:

• World War II
• contemporary archaeology
• dark heritage
• site contamination
• Hanau

Acknowledgements

Site monitoring and archaeological excavations at the former Pioneer military camp were conducted by SPAU GmbH from 2018–2020 following a commercial tender. The author was the responsible project manager and field director. The final report was submitted in December 2021. Archaeological work was financed by the developers of “Pioneer Park” according to the Heritage Protection Act of the federal state of Hesse (HessDSchG) and supervised by the Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Hessen, hessenARCHÄOLOGIE.

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Anke S. Weber

Anke S. Weber (M.A. 2004, Frankfurt Goethe University) is a CHM consultant and archaeological field director for Infra Europe based in Germany. With a background in cultural anthropology, her research interests include contemporary archaeology, focusing on the archaeology of World War II, the commercialization of the heritage sector, public archaeology, the anthropology of knowledge, and archaeological methods and theory.