Battlefield Archaeology

America's battlefields invite reflection on the meaning of battle, its causes, consequences, and cost, and connect the present to the past through virtues such as duty, loyalty, honor, and courage, as well as cowardice, brutality, fear, and despair. Archaeological study can clarify what happened by uncovering unmarked graves, bullets or cartridge cases, fragments of clothing, traces of lost roadways, old campsites, and vanished buildings. Such evidence preserves the physical record of soldiers waiting and fighting, advancing or retreating, treating the wounded, and burying the dead. Learning more depends on knowing exactly where artifacts are found, so removing objects from historic battlefields destroys valuable context. At Honey Springs Battlefield, taking souvenirs is wrong and against the law, and preservation depends on following marked paths, leaving objects in place, avoiding digging, reporting archaeological materials, vandalism, and suspicious activity, supporting battlefield and archaeological groups, contributing funds, educating state and local officials, volunteering with archaeologists, and refusing to buy illegally taken artifacts. Preserving historic battlefields ensures that future generations of Americans can continue to value and learn from them.

Rentiesville, Oklahoma · United States