The violent truth: A comparative, long-term study of collective violence from armed conflicts in Europe.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
Department Name: Sch of Archaeology and Ancient History
Abstract
Project Summary (Please do not exceed 4000 characters, including spaces):
This PhD will investigate the impact of collective violence in society by analysing the skeletal remains from significant armed conflicts that occurred in Europe from the 19th century onwards and establish a theoretical and methodological framework for contemporary forensic investigations. This will be achieved by performing analysis of skeletal trauma from the weapons used in each conflict, identifying other violent practices (e.g. torturing) on the remains and finally associating these with the socio-political context and historical sources pertaining to each conflict. The above will be explained using sociological theories of violence (Demmers, 2012).
Forensic anthropologists and bioarchaeologists are frequently employed in humanitarian analysis of skeletal remains from armed conflicts. The trauma analysis from weapons requires a different framework than that used in the study of the distant past due to changes in technology (machinery, weaponry) and social structures. The development of a focused and methodological theoretical framework, drawing upon recent violent conflict, with a strong reference to social sciences and international humanitarian law will prevent future interdisciplinary projects from simply producing unfocussed skeletal reports (Martin and Harrod, 2015).
This will assist in the recovery and identification of victims, will support forensic practice and help unearth criminal activities and the violations of human rights (Cordner and Tidball-Binz, 2017). The PhD study will focus on armed conflicts of Spain and Greece. The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the Turkish Arkadi Massacre in Crete (1866) are historical events that significantly impacted upon the history and the development of both countries. The visual methods employed for the skeletal trauma analysis will be ComputedTomography (CT), photogrammetry and Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI).
Research questions are: 1) What lessons can an integrated bioarchaeological and anthropological approach of late 19th and 20th-century armed conflicts offer to contemporary forensic investigations?2) Can the anthropological and archaeological analysis of human skeletal remains provide information regarding the social and political context of armed conflict?
This study aims to address the above questions by:
1) Drawing together sociological theories of violence, 2) Establishing a framework of best practice for the bioarchaeological study of violence in armed conflicts, 3) Applying anthropological methods in the case-studies and then integrating these findings with historical and photographic record for those individuals and the wider socio-political context, 4) Reflecting on the implications of contemporary investigations of violence arising from armed conflicts.
This study will enhance the current research on the Spanish Civil War, highlight the historical value of the Arkadi Ossuary and contribute to human right causes of contemporary conflicts by offering a new methodological approach.
This PhD will investigate the impact of collective violence in society by analysing the skeletal remains from significant armed conflicts that occurred in Europe from the 19th century onwards and establish a theoretical and methodological framework for contemporary forensic investigations. This will be achieved by performing analysis of skeletal trauma from the weapons used in each conflict, identifying other violent practices (e.g. torturing) on the remains and finally associating these with the socio-political context and historical sources pertaining to each conflict. The above will be explained using sociological theories of violence (Demmers, 2012).
Forensic anthropologists and bioarchaeologists are frequently employed in humanitarian analysis of skeletal remains from armed conflicts. The trauma analysis from weapons requires a different framework than that used in the study of the distant past due to changes in technology (machinery, weaponry) and social structures. The development of a focused and methodological theoretical framework, drawing upon recent violent conflict, with a strong reference to social sciences and international humanitarian law will prevent future interdisciplinary projects from simply producing unfocussed skeletal reports (Martin and Harrod, 2015).
This will assist in the recovery and identification of victims, will support forensic practice and help unearth criminal activities and the violations of human rights (Cordner and Tidball-Binz, 2017). The PhD study will focus on armed conflicts of Spain and Greece. The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the Turkish Arkadi Massacre in Crete (1866) are historical events that significantly impacted upon the history and the development of both countries. The visual methods employed for the skeletal trauma analysis will be ComputedTomography (CT), photogrammetry and Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI).
Research questions are: 1) What lessons can an integrated bioarchaeological and anthropological approach of late 19th and 20th-century armed conflicts offer to contemporary forensic investigations?2) Can the anthropological and archaeological analysis of human skeletal remains provide information regarding the social and political context of armed conflict?
This study aims to address the above questions by:
1) Drawing together sociological theories of violence, 2) Establishing a framework of best practice for the bioarchaeological study of violence in armed conflicts, 3) Applying anthropological methods in the case-studies and then integrating these findings with historical and photographic record for those individuals and the wider socio-political context, 4) Reflecting on the implications of contemporary investigations of violence arising from armed conflicts.
This study will enhance the current research on the Spanish Civil War, highlight the historical value of the Arkadi Ossuary and contribute to human right causes of contemporary conflicts by offering a new methodological approach.