Ok, blatant plug time (forgive the pun!). Current Archaeology magazine is holding the annual archaeology awards, and one of the nominees is this superb project on the old Western Front- "The Plugstreet Project is a non profit project lead by No Man's Land Archaeology Group, a multinational team of volunteers specialising in the study of the First World War though archaeological excavations, historical research, map work and aerial photography. Working with academic departments, local and international partners, cutting edge techniques are being employed to gain a greater understanding of life in the trenches and the effect of the war on the local population. The first attempt in any period of archaeology to follow a military unit from formation through training, to a baptism of fire, in an attempt to establish whether their training had indeed been successful. In addition it aims to examine the ongoing effect of the conflict, over a lifetime ago, on the residents of the area and also the families of over half a million men who fought in these fields. The website of The Plugstreet Archaeological Project is currently in development." The Plugstreet Project This is what Roger Thomas of English Heritage said in an email I got today- "It isn't often that I am moved to twist peoples arms to vote for awards, but the 'Plugstreet Dig' has been an exemplary military archaeological undertaking, and I think Martin Brown and Richard Osgood's team deserve all the support that we can muster! They have demonstrated exactly what can be achieved by a careful, scrupulous, and methodical approach to Military Archaeology, contrary to all of these crash-it and JCB-it type so-called archaeological digs that have been shown on some recent TV programmes. If you feel inclined to vote for them, please click the link below, scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote for Plugstreet under the Research Project of the Year Section. If you know of anyone else who may be willing to vote please forward the link to them. Archaeology Awards Regards, Roger" Anyone who wishes to vote can follow Roger's link. Thanks.
