47 Conflict Landscapes of the Soča/Isonzo Front, 1915– 2013: Archaeological-Anthropological Evaluation of the Soča Valley, Slovenia Pokrajine konfliktov soške fronte, 1915–2013: arheološko-antropološko ovrednotenje Posočja © Nicholas J. Saunders University of Bristol, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, nicholas.saunders@bristol.ac.uk © Neil Faulkner University of Bristol, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, neilfaulkner2000@yahoo.co.uk ©Uroš Košir Zavod za varstvo kulturne dediščine Slovenije, Center za preventivno arheologijo, u.kosir87@gmail.com ©Matija Črešnar Zavod za varstvo kulturne dediščine Slovenije, Center za preventivno arheologijo in Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta, Oddelek za arheologijo, matija.cresnar@gmail.com ©Sîan Thomas st4788@bristol.ac.uk Introduction The Soča Valley, located on the border between Slovenia and Italy, is internationally perhaps better remembered by its Italian name, the Isonzo Valley. The Soča (Isonzo) Front was one of the bloodiest of the First World War, with the Italian Army making no less than eleven attempts between May 1915 and September 1917 to break through the Austro-Hungarian defences to seize Trieste and re- gain territory they referred to as Italia Irrendenta (Fabi 2009; Falls 1966; Macdonald, Cimprič 2011; Schindler 2001; Simić 1998; Štepec 2008; Thompson 2008). The consequences of these actions created a palimpsest con- flict landscape which preserves a unique archaeological record of a multinational and multiethnic war waged across a topographically diverse landscape (Figure 1). The Soča Valley has become a symbolic embodiment of the military, political and cultural transformations of the last century of European history. The First World War and its aftermath led to the collapse of an already strug- gling, ethnically diverse Austro-Hungarian Empire and the re-shaping of the political and cultural landscapes of the Soča Valley and the wider region. The annexation of the Soča Valley by Italy in 1918 subsequently enabled Mussolini to remobilise the Italian war dead and create a Arheo 30, 2013, 47–66 1.01 Izvirni znanstveni članek Abstract: A preliminary evaluation of the Soča Valley’s First and Second World War conflict landscapes has revealed the extraordinary preservation of archaeological and anthropological evidence. Adopting the multidisciplinary approach of “modern conflict archaeology”, study of written sources, field-walking, photography, geodetic and geophysical surveys, test-excavation, and interviews with museums and collectors have demonstrated the potential for a valley-wide investigation of a topographically diverse region which embodies in microcosm the war legacies of 20 th century Europe. Archaeological investigations on Mengore and the Tolmin Plain, site visits to the Austro-Hungarian cemeteries on the Kras (Carso), interviews with representatives of institutions, carrying out the protection of this heritage, as well as collectors of war memorabilia, and high-altitude reconnaissance on Mt. Batognica show the uniqueness of the Soča Valley’s rich palimpsest of conflict-related heritage. Keywords: Conflict archaeology, material culture, landscape, heritage, war cemeteries Izvleček: Preliminarno vrednotenje pokrajin konfliktov v Posočju je razkrilo izjemno ohranjenost arheoloških in antropoloških sledov. Z večdisciplinarnim pristopom „arheologije modernih konfliktov“, ki vključuje raziskave pisnih virov, terenske preglede, fotografijo, geodetske meritve, geofizikalne raziskave, testna sondiranja ter pogovore z muzealci in zasebnimi zbiralci, so nakazali izjemen potencial za celovito raziskavo topografsko raznolike regije, ki v mikrokozmosu združuje zapuščine vojn 20. stoletja na evropskih tleh. Arheološke raziskave na Mengorah in v tolminski ravnici, ogledi avstro-ogrskih pokopališč na Krasu, pogovori s predstavniki institucij, ki bdijo nad to dediščino, in zbiralci vojaških ostalin ter topografski pregledi visokogorskega bojišča na Batognici, prikazujejo edinstvenost Posočja s svojim palimpsestom dediščine konfliktov. Ključne besede: arheologija konfliktov, materialna kultura, pokrajina, dediščina, vojaška pokopališča 48 to more comprehensive research to follow. Here, we deal with four main issues to contextualise our research and provide a framework for future investiga- tions. First, we introduce the First World War conflict landscape of the Soča Valley, examining how modern industrialised warfare was imposed on a topographically diverse landscape composed of the high mountain peaks of the Julian Alps, the adjacent low-lying river valley plains, and the karst environment of the Kras (Italian Carso). Despite the area’s differing geographical regions, there exists a degree of uniformity in the processes and features of militarisation, albeit adapted to the conditions of the immediate environs. Second, the landscapes of subsequent, post-1918 con- flicts within the region are introduced, contextualised as they are by being embedded within the First World War conflict landscape. It is acknowledged that all these twentieth-century conflict landscapes reveal and embody more than simply the remains of militarisation and/or conflict; they simultaneously contain and constitute a va- riety of associated commemorative and monumentalised landscapes and features created in the aftermaths of the various conflicts which occurred throughout the valley. Our third focus is on the multiethnic character of the First World War in this region. Despite this partial temporal focus (inevitable in such an introductory paper), it is axi- omatic that all conflicts in the Soča Valley study area dur- ing the twentieth century had a significant and traumatic impact on the region’s many different social groups and ethnicities. One consequence of these varying impacts was the creation of political landscapes, and landscapes of identity, which in their material presence as much as in their historical documentation, attest to peoples’ adapta- tion to, and contested control of, their respective territo- ries. These landscapes are an integral and still visible part of the overall palimpsest of the Soča Valley today. Our fourth aim is to present in outline some of the results of our preliminary archaeological and anthropological fieldwork conducted since 2009, the former having main- ly focused on and around Mengore Hill, south of Tolmin, and the latter on the material culture of public and private collections (in the same area), and the wartime and post- war cemeteries on the Kras. commemorative landscape of Fascist monuments during the post-war period, as represented by the ossuaries at Kobarid (Italian Caporetto, German Karfreit), Sredipolje, and Oslavia (Oslavje). Nested within this landscape, fur- ther militarisation of the valley before, during and after the Second World War have embedded later conflict landscapes within that of the First World War landscape, creating a complex layering of modern warfare and its enduring legacies. This presents a preliminary evaluation of the archaeology and anthropology of these layered conflict landscapes of the Soča Valley. It adopts the multidisciplinary approach of Modern Conflict Archaeology (Saunders 2010a; id. 2011; id. 2012), whose combination of archaeology, an- thropology, and cultural heritage allows for the often un- acknowledged political, ideological and cultural aspects of this conflict over a period of one hundred years to be investigated alongside archaeological survey and exca- vation. Engaging with the anthropological dimensions of the war and its aftermath provides a richer, broader, and more nuanced understanding of the totality of human ex- perience of modern conflict and its legacies beyond the traditional remit of military history. These initial investi- gations (mainly reconnaissance, selective test-excavation, topographic assessments, and ethnographic interviews) cover the period 2009–2013, and can be regarded as an evaluation of this unique landscape, and an introduction Conflict Landscapes of the Soča/Isonzo Front, 1915–2013 Figure 1. View of Kobarid (Caporetto, Karfreit) and the Soča River Valley, showing the varied topography valley battle- zone (photo: N. J. Saunders). Slika 1. Pogled na Kobarid in dolino reke Soče razkriva raznoliko topografijo bojišča (foto: N. J. Saunders). 49 Landscapes of Conflict The twelve battles fought on the Soča Front (i.e. the eleven Italian offensives and the final Austro-Hungarian breakthrough) left deep scars in the physical landscape. The Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies constructed vast stretches of fighting and communication trenches, as well as roads and mule tracks, extensive cable-transport net- works, caverns, innumerable artillery and machine-gun positions, military barracks, hospitals, warehouses and other forms of military infrastructure. At the same time, individual battlefield graves were dug for fallen soldiers, and larger battlefield cemeteries were constructed. Local civilian inhabitants were moved from the battlefront and sent to other regions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; their homes were either destroyed by artillery barrages, hand-to-hand fighting, and/or occupied by the army. During the inter-war period, and again from 1945 to the present, other conflict-related activities occurred, each of which left an array of physical marks on the landscape, such as new and rebuilt cemeteries, war memorials, and heritage buildings and paths. In order to make sense of this confused and confusing mass of conflict-related ma- terialities over a century, we regard the entire Soča Valley as a palimpsest conflict landscape composed of different layers. This approach offers a powerful analytical frame- work for identifying and separating out different events, the relationships between events and their physical traces, and for exploring the interrelationships between events and proposed landscape layers. Topographic zones The Soča Front formed part of a 600-kilometre long bat- tlefield between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which extended in an arc from the Swiss border to the Gulf of Trieste (Simić 1998, 11). This long front is made up of many different topographical zones. In the eastern- most part, in what is today Slovenia, the front-line tra- versed the mountain peaks of the Julian Alps, the hills of the Tolmin area, the Banjšice plateau, the area around Nova Gorica, and, further south, the karst region known then as now as Kras (Figure 2). These distinct zones were characterised by different military engagements with landscape, and produced different kinds of battle- fields (more accurately, perhaps, battle-zones), each with a unique profile of topographical features and, conse- Arheo 30, 2013, 47–66 Figure 2. Map of the Soča Front with main locations mentioned in the article. The grey line represents the front line in May 1915, whereas the dotted line represents the change of front line in the southern part in summer 1917 (by: U. Košir, M. Črešnar). Slika 2. Zemljevid soške fronte z označenimi glavnimi lokacijami, omenjenimi v besedilu. Siva črta predstavlja potek fronte v maju 1915, pikčasta črta pa spremembo poteka fronte na južnem delu poleti 1917 (izvedba: U. Košir, M. Črešnar). 50 quently, each posing distinct physical and methodologi- cal challenges to modern investigation. The first, and most impressive, of these zones, is the high-mountain battlefield, which extended between Mt Rombon (2208m) in the north to V odel (1058m) in the south. Geographically speaking, a high-mountain region is that above 1500m, but here the lower peaks of Mrzli Vrh (1360m) and V odel (1059m) are also included. The solid limestone bedrock is close to the surface in these areas, making the digging of trenches during the First World War difficult and time-consuming. Consequently, trenches and fortified positions here were often built in the form of dry stone walls or as shallow trenches. Such harsh, bare-rock conditions also gave a distinctive char- acter to the experience of fighting, and the nature of the subsequent commemoration. Exposed bedrock enhanced the killing power of grenade, artillery, and mine attacks. Flying rock splinters made explosives far more lethal in such areas than they were elsewhere. Additionally, such geological realities offered many opportunities for us- ing and extending deep caverns which afforded protec- tion from artillery-fire. The size and complexity of such features depended on their purpose and the presence of cut bedrock outcrops. At some locations, such as Mt Batognica, Mrzli Vrh, and Kal, the bedrock was drilled to create mine-galleries. Climate too played a role. Win- ter brought an abundance of snow, and many barracks collapsed under the weight. Avalanches also presented a threat, killing many soldiers. Extreme cold made frost- bite a common condition. This zone also includes some lowland areas between the mountains. An example is the battlefields which lie in the plain around Bovec, which are linked to the higher sur- rounding mountain battlefields, and were under the direct influence of higher military positions (Košir 2012, 54). In this example, the impossibility of completely separat- ing out high-altitude battlefields from lower altitude val- ley plains is clear, and demands a creative response in theoretical framework and field methodology in order to assess the complex interactions between the two distinct topographical areas. The second zone lies between the towns of Tolmin and Nova Gorica, and is characterised by low mountains and foothills, but also includes the higher-altitude karst land- scape of the Banjšice plateau. On Mengore Hill, for exam- ple, the geology was such that it was possible to construct elaborate systems of deep trenches in the thick layer of soil which was present (as well as cavern systems in rocky limestone outcrops). The third zone is the karst plateau of the Kras, and which includes also the flat plain between Nova Gorica and Orehovlje. The challenges facing sol- diers on the Kras (and on the mountains) were increased by severe heat and drought during summer months. It is important to note that while areas of lowland occur in all three topographic zones, it is never extensive enough to constitute a distinct battle-zone type in its own right. In the Soča Valley conflict landscape, there is a creative tension and a complex multilateral relationship between the different zones identified here. For example, the Tol- min bridgehead area is a junction of these different types of battlefield, which incorporates areas of lowland val- ley floor and low foothills, and yet remains under direct observation of, and subject to military attack from, the adjacent high-altitude locations. Here, the archaeological imprint of wartime remains reflects this distinctive topo- graphic/military reality – and which must be acknowl- edged if field research and its subsequent interpretation is to be as accurate as possible. The geographic and climatic (often micro-climatic) con- ditions in these different zones affected strategy, tactics, and troop movements for the Italian and Austro-Hungar- ian armies. The potential for a major breakthrough ap- peared significantly lower in the northern, high-mountain sector of the Upper Soča Valley, than in the more geo- graphically favourable southern area. Few large-scale battles were fought in the north, and the largest concen- tration of soldiers, and associated fortifications, was in the south, particularly on the Kras. Topography, in fact, so shaped the Italian High Command’s perception of military possibilities, that they were taken by surprise when a combined force of German and Austro-Hungari- an Army Corps attacked in precisely this more northerly high-altitude region in October 1917. Their success was so overwhelming that it was referred to as “The Miracle of Karfreit” (Krauss 1926), though is better known as The Battle of Caporetto. First World War military landscapes The Austro-Hungarian Army was present in the Soča Val- ley before 1914, and created what is called here the first layer of conflict landscape. The army barracks in Tolmin, Conflict Landscapes of the Soča/Isonzo Front, 1915–2013 51 for example, were built in 1907 (Klavora 2004, 15), with others at Kobarid, Breginj, Kanal and Gorizia. Fortifying strategic points began even earlier, such as the 1882 con- struction of Fort Kluže (Strassensperre Flitscher Klause), and, between 1898 and 1900, Fort Hermann (Werk Her- mann) located above Fort Kluže (Simić 2005, 106). From 1914, a second conflict layer was added, when fortifications were built at the Vršič Pass, in the upper Soča Valley, and in areas more distant from the border. Within the border region itself, an observation point was constructed on Height 1313, Mt. Rombon, with other for- tified positions and caverns on Mt. Svinjak near Bovec (Klavora 2000, 25). This second layer of militarisation was added to with a more intensive fortification of the border region after 27 April 1915 – when positions were built by Landsturm units (formed of older reservists) with the help of local civilians. Some of the trenches, shelters and military roads on Mengore Hill and Cvetje were built at this time (Klavora 2004, 26–31). The Mengore Hill constructions were undertaken by the 9 th March Battal- ion (Marschbataillon) of the 27 th Home Guard Infantry Regiment from Ljubljana and the 10 th March Battalion of the 97 th Infantry Regiment from Trieste from May 1915 (Klavora 2004, 38–41). Generally speaking, these posi- tions were poorly constructed and widely dispersed, as the Soča River and the deep belt of mountains beyond was considered a strong enough defence against the Ital- ians. Besides, the Austro-Hungarians were already des- perately over-committed, with a war against Russia in the Carpathians and another against Serbia in the Balkans; the war against the Italians would represent for them the opening of a third front. The Soča Front was strategically important, and when hostilities between Italy and Austro-Hungary began on 23 May 1915, the majority of Italian forces were concen- trated between the Julian Alps and the Adriatic coast, and faced Austro-Hungarian defences composed of a com- bination of these first two layers of the valley’s conflict landscape. The aim of the Italian Army was to penetrate towards the Villach basin and Tarvisio, and then towards the Ljubljana basin and on into the interior of Austro- Hungary (Klavora 2000, 67). The Italians launched eleven large-scale offensives be- tween 1915 and 1917, but despite numerical superiority, great effort and heavy casualties, they won little ground and failed to break the Austro-Hungarian line (Schindler 2001, 41–265). The pre-war Austro-Hungarian defenc- es (i.e. the first two conflict layers) proved inadequate to withstand the intensity of modern war, and so these earlier constructions were developed into stronger and more complex defensive systems, a process which cre- ated a third layer of the Soča Valley’s conflict landscape, and which continued from 23 May 1915 to the combined Austro-Hungarian and German attack on 24 October 1917 (“The Battle of Caporetto”). A fourth layer was created by this successful attack, whose rapid 18 km ad- vance on the first day alone led to the withdrawal of the last Italian forces on 28 October and their retreat to the Piave River some 200 km west of the Soča Valley (Schin- dler 2001, 243–265; Simić 1998, 178, 226). This fourth layer, superimposed on the previous three, represents the last “active fighting” landscape of the First World War in the valley, though other kinds of post-war conflict land- scape quickly appeared. Post-war conflict landscapes In the immediate aftermath of the war, vast areas of the Soča Valley were abandoned and desolate, and it was to such a harsh economic reality that refugees began return- ing in the 1920s (Pirih 2005, 38). A new, fifth, layer of landscape was created as these refugees began to clear the old battlefields and rebuild their ruined homes – two processes which were actually one, as houses, farms and outbuildings were often constructed with recycled ma- Arheo 30, 2013, 47–66 Figure 3. Post-1918 re-use of war debris in the Soča River Valley (photo: N. J. Saunders). Slika 3. Primer ponovne uporabe vojnega materiala v Posočju po letu 1918 (foto: N. J. Saunders). 52 terials taken from the battlefields (Figure 3). Alongside these, were shoes, clothes, canteens, rifles, ammunition and human remains – a corpse was worth 10 lire, and 10 kilos of barbed wire 1 lire (Thompson 2008, 383) – an array of objects moving from the military to the civilian sphere. Trenches in the valleys were backfilled to restore agricultural land, large areas were cleared of unexploded ordnance (Pirih 2005, 39), and wooden posts and barbed- wire were re-used to demarcate pastures and landhold- ings. Significantly, the creation of this fifth layer forever altered the characteristics of the preceding four wartime layers. The removal, burying, and recycling of elements of the war meant that pristine unaltered battlefields had all but ceased to exist, at least in the more accessible ar- eas. Regarding and investigating this hybrid layer as if it was an original wartime landscape is to elide the exis- tence and nature of the preceding four layers, and thus to seriously misunderstand the complex processes of land- scape formation. At the same time as this landscape of re-civilianization was being produced via bomb clearance and recycling of military materials, a sixth, and more evocative layer of the “moved and remembered dead” was also being cre- ated. Here, soldiersʼ remains were being located, buried, moved and/or reburied in cemeteries and ossuaries along the Soča Valley during the 1920s and 1930s. Italy’s victory in 1918 led to her annexation of the Soča Valley (then, more commonly, the Isonzo), and to the establishment of new Italian political and administrative procedures. From the perspective of an archaeological- anthropological investigation of the area, it is important to acknowledge that this mortuary and commemorative landscape of cemeteries and memorials incorporated the dead of Austria-Hungary as well Italy, and that, wherever possible, systematic identification of the dead was also carried out (Fortunat Černilogar 2005, 92, 94). The shape of this new layer, not least the abandonment of smaller wartime cemeteries and the consolidation of their dead in larger more accessible cemeteries, was directed by the Italian authorities, the attitudes and behaviour of the vic- tors when reburying their defeated former enemies is an important factor to be considered when interpreting the remains of this particular kind of activity. This reshaping, in fact a shrinking, of the wartime mortu- ary landscape is evident from the fact that at the war’s end there were approximately 2,591 (or 2,876, sources vary) wartime cemeteries along the former Italian front – but that after consolidation, there were only 349, of which about 64 have been restored (Fortunat Černilogar 2005, 94). In parallel with this actual as well as symbolic cre- ation of a new sixth landscape layer, and from ca. 1931, a further phase of cemetery construction in a monumental style began. This development, and the architectural form of these monuments, was influenced by the rise of Fas- cism and the mythologizing of the “Great War” and the Italian victory. Many Italian soldiers were removed from the battlefield cemeteries and placed in the monumental ossuaries at Kobarid, Redipuglia, and Oslavia (Oslavje) (Fortunat Černilogar 2005, 95). One effect of this devel- opment was to concentrate the Italian war dead in more accessible locations for ideological purposes. The political dynamic which inspired and shaped this post-war mortuary and commemorative landscape layer was, by the 1930s, the shared values of Fascism by Italy and Germany. One material consequence of this was con- struction of a German ossuary by the banks of the Soča River, south of Tolmin, between 1936 and 1938. It was placed on the site of a previous German military cem- etery, which was constructed after the Austro-Hungarian and German breakthrough of the twelfth battle on the Soča Front. Its construction was funded by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge eV of Munich (Klavora 2004, 316; Koren 2008, 122–125). An integral part of this sixth landscape layer was the Ital- ian construction of memorials to the fallen. In 1922, Italy declared the area between Mt. San Michele and Mt. Sab- otino a sacred area (Zona Sacra) in memory of the sol- diers who had fallen in the Battle of Gorizia (Širok 2009, 56). In this way, the dead of the Soča Valley were mobi- lised (arguably remobilised) to serve the revanchist im- perial ambitions of the post-war Italian state. At the same time, cemeteries, and monuments dedicated to soldiers from the local area were built by the Slovenian popula- tion. Indeed, post-war memorials in civil cemeteries were built throughout Slovenia (Figure 4). Indicative of post-war relationships between the Italian occupiers and local people was the erection of 22 June 1922 of a stone pyramid with a commemorative inscrip- tion on top of Mt. Krn. The history of this monument illustrates the complexity of the palimpsest conflict land- scapes of the Soča Valley. Conflict Landscapes of the Soča/Isonzo Front, 1915–2013 53 It was dedicated to Second-Lieutenant Alberto Picco, who was killed in 1915 during the capture of Krn by the Italians (Schindler 2001, 49–50; Simić 1998, 39). The monument was destroyed later the same year (1922) by lightning strike, but the fascists accused the local people of the de- struction, and in revenge destroyed a monument to a com- poser, Hraboslav V olarič, in Kobarid (Klavora 2000, 107). In 1928, beneath the summit of Mt. Krn, a new monument- shelter was constructed. It was named Rifugio Alberto Pic- co (Simić 1998, 39; Klavora 2000, 107). It was destroyed after the Second World War, and today the Gomišček shel- ter, a mountain hut, stands on the spot. The only remnant of the original monument is a concrete eagle, which lies below the shelter. This sequence of events demonstrates the challenge of understanding the various forces which, contesting with each other over many decades, gave the current landscape its distinctive palimpsest character. A seventh layer of conflict landscape was added to the Soča Valley during the inter-war years. From the 1930s up until 1943, there was a new militarisation of parts of the upper valley area when the Italian Army built a new fortification system known as the Alpine Wall (Vallo Al- pino) (Anon. n.d.; Bernasconi, Muran 2009). In some locations, the remnants of the First World War-period conflict landscape were incorporated into this new de- fence system, embedding a post-war military landscape within that of the previous conflict (Figure 5). One ex- ample of this is the system of concrete extensions to the tunnel that leads to Fort Hermann above Fort Kluže, and the machine-gun position in the cliff above the Koritnica River (Simić 2005, 303). The Second World War itself added a new, eighth, layer to the already complex conflict landscape, although this was far less extensive than those which had been created dur- ing the First World War and the subsequent inter-war years. German troops dug trenches around their recently-built os- suary near Tolmin, and used it as a fortified position. Im- mediately after the war, the fallen from the ROA (Russian Liberation Army, also known as the Vlasov Army) were buried on the eastern side of the ossuary walls (Klavora 2004, 317). German soldiers also altered some elements of Fort Kluže, with the entrance being rebuilt and some of the embrasures reduced (Klavora 2000, 47; Simić 2005, 303). Arheo 30, 2013, 47–66 Figure 4. Memorial to the fallen in the Great War in Zgornje Gorje, erected in 1923 (photo: U. Košir). Slika 4. Spomenik padlim v prvi svetovni vojni v Zgornjih Gorjah, postavljen leta 1923 (foto: U. Košir). Figure 5. Well-camouflaged bunker of the Italian Alpine Wall (Vallo Alpino) set in the First World War landscape of the Tolminka Valley below Javorca church (photo: N. J. Saunders) Slika 5. Zamaskiran bunker italijanskega Alpskega zidu (Vallo Alpino) v pokrajini prve svetovne vojne pod cerkvijo na Javorci v dolini Tolminke (foto: N. J. Saunders). 54 After the Second World War, a ninth layer was added when cemeteries and memorials to the partisans and the national liberation movement were built. These consti- tute a visible reminder of the guerrilla-war and counter- insurgency activities of 1941–1945, whose direct result was a reconstruction of the Yugoslav state (Figure 6). At this time, perhaps understandably, the First World War slipped from public consciousness under the realities of more recent events. Yet, where the two wars collided on the shared landscape it was a different matter. The Ger- man ossuary near Tolmin, for example, was often the target of vandalism in the years after 1945. It was used also as an ammunition depot for the Yugoslav National Army, until abandoned in the 1950s. In the 1960s, the first conservation works on the ossuary were carried out, and these continued in 1975, 1985, and later (Klavora 2004, 317). The First World War layers of the Soča Valley’s conflict landscape began to re-emerge in during the 1980s, when conservation of its commemorative sites became more common, and renovations of some of that war’s military cemeteries were undertaken. These activities altered the landscape again, and created a tenth layer, characterised by a patchwork of sites where some were altered, and others not – obvious at the time to local people, but not necessarily to later generations of visitors or investiga- tors who might easily but erroneously consider all the valley’s First World War sites as equally conserved, reno- vated or in their original state. 1 The reappearance of First World War landscapes in pub- lic and political consciousness gathered momentum after Slovenia gained independence in 1991. It was at this time that, although it had begun decades before, another, elev- enth, layer was created by the activities of First World War enthusiasts and militaria collectors. They undertook (and to an extent still undertake) clearance of military features, the objects retrieved sometimes being sold, and other times entering (often substantial) private museums and collections such as First World War Collection ‚87 th Regiment at Bovec. These activities, by their nature, fur- ther alter the character of First World War landscapes – e.g. by changing the quantity, diversity, and distribution of war-related artefacts and matériel to be found in-situ – and by so doing can give a misleading view of sites to visitors and investigators. When combined with the ef- fects of battle-zone clearance and recycling of materials of the 1920s, it is clear that most layers of the First World War conflict landscape are not pristine survivals from the war, but rather the product of a century’s selective altera- tion of individual sites and the landscape more generally. It is, we believe, much easier to track (and avoid conflat- ing) this complex sequence of events by constructing an analytical framework which identifies these different lay- ers of landscape mentioned above. The act of creating private museums and collections which was such a part of this eleventh landscape layer can be further conceptualised as adding a distinctive lay- ering of materiality with which modern investigations have to engage. As on the Western Front (Saunders 2003, 143–185), it is possible to regard this layer as being com- posed of “objects in motion”, i.e. items in constant cir- culation - bought, sold, traded and exchanged between collectors within Slovenia and, trans-nationally, between Slovenia and Italy (at militaria fairs, and on the internet). These objects, often with no obvious provenance, can be seen as an integral (and sometimes illegal) part of the cultural transmission of the material legacies of the war (Fabi 1998). 1 Except of course where dates for renovation or embellishment are recorded on the signage at the entrance to a site. Conflict Landscapes of the Soča/Isonzo Front, 1915–2013 Figure 6. Recently constructed Partisan monument on the Kras (Carso), whose central feature is a trench-art display of contemporary weapons and equipment (photo: N. J. Saunders). Slika 6. Nedavno zgrajeni partizanski spomenik na Krasu, katerega osrednji del predstavlja skulptura iz orožja in opreme v stilu umetnosti z bojišč (foto: N. J. Saunders). 55 More recently, a twelfth layer was added when, in 2000, the “Walks of Peace” foundation was established and be- gan selectively restoring First World War military fea- tures and memorials (Koren 2008). Under its auspices, six open-air museums were created, including those at Kolovrat and Mrzli Vrh (Koren 2008, 103–105, 140–145) (Figure 7). Furthermore, within the last decade, some problematic restorations of the First World War military heritage have occurred, such as that at Dutovlje cemetery on the Kras, which was first levelled, and then its grave markers placed back in a random manner. It is reported that when it rained, bones and bone fragments could be seen on the surface. Similarly, when the monument to Major-General Novak von Arienti was restored, an origi- nal shell hole “disappeared” and was replaced by a large copper plate with inscriptions. The power of the present to rejuvenate and re-inscribe the past is demonstrated by the even more recent trend to hold commemorative events at certain First World War locations – a process seen to an even greater extent on the Western Front of France and Belgium (Saunders 2010b, 85–89). There is an annual Holy Mass at the Hungarian altar on Mrzli vrh, a memorial hiking event to the peak of Mt. Krn, and a ceremony at the nearby Krn Lake. These and other events are usually attended by members of re- enactment groups which are attempting to continue the tradition of some of the war’s military units, especially those that included a large percentage of Slovenian sol- diers. Interestingly, the Slovenian Army is also often present at these events, and so there is sense in which these events freely mix the amateur enthusiasts with rep- resentatives of the nation’s professional military forces. As this kind of activity is increasing, and will likely in- crease further with the 2014–18 centenary of the First World War, it is too early to say whether it should be included in the twelfth layer, or perhaps mark the begin- ning of a new thirteenth layer of the conflict landscape. All of the layers of conflict and post-conflict activity from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present demonstrate the uniqueness of the Soča Valley as a mod- ern conflict landscape in all its diversity and complexity, and illustrate why it is impossible to adopt a purely ar- chaeological approach to investigating such a confusing array of landscape features and strata. Politics, econom- ics, ideology, identity, ethnicity, heritage and tourism all played (and continue to play) significant roles alongside both world wars in creating and re-shaping the conflict landscapes of the valley. Multi-ethnic Conflict The Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies consisted of soldiers of many different nationalities. For the latter, Italians, Slovenians, Austrians, Hungarians, Croats, Bos- nians, Czechs, Slovaks and peoples of other ethnic origins within the Austro-Hungarian Empire were represented on the Soča Front. During the Tenth and Eleventh battles of the Isonzo, the British made their first (small-scale) appearance on the front, 2 and during the Twelfth Battle and its aftermath, in October–November 1917, German troops also fought alongside the Austro-Hungarian Army. Each of these ethnic groups left distinctive imprints on the landscape, the most notable of which are arguably war memorials and war graffiti. These were created by soldiers for several purposes: in memory of units fight- 2 Although it is widely thought that it was only after the Battle of Ko- barid/Caporetto (Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo) that the British Army became actively involved on the Soča Front, two Brigades of the British Royal Garrison Artillery joined the Italian Third Army on 7 April 1917, on the east bank of the Soča/Isonzo, south of Gradisca, and took part in both the Tenth (12 May–8 June, 1917), and Elev- enth (19 August–12 September, 1917) battles. Arheo 30, 2013, 47–66 Figure 7. “Walks of Peace in Posočje” open-air museum at Kolovrat, which represents the recent layer of war-related and outdoor recreational sites (photo: N. J. Saunders). Slika 7. Muzej na prostem na Kolovratu kot del „Poti miru v Posočju“, ki predstavlja najmlajši horizont lokacij, povezanih z vojno pa tudi z rekreacijo v naravi (foto: N. J. Saunders). 56 ing in the region, to commemorate specific events, and to honour various commanders, political leaders and war heroes, and sometimes to perpetuate their own names as having served in the area. Memorials constructed by Italian soldiers were mostly inscribed in Italian, but occasionally in Latin. Such is the case in the inscription dedicated to the Alpine Battalion Val Tanaro on Mt. Batognica (2164m) and the memorial dedicated to Re Brigade, which is situated close to the road Kostanjevica–Opatje Selo (Web 2/Splet 2). Under- standably, a greater linguistic diversity is represented on the Austro-Hungarian memorials due to the multi-ethnic composition of their armed forces. Some inscriptions were written in one language, others were bilingual. German was the most common language, Hungarian the second most common, but many other languages were also used. Some also carry Croatian inscriptions, such as K.u.K. Inf. Baon IV / 53. 22 Feld Kompanie Špilja Naših hrabrih junaka on Mengore Hill, or the German-Bosnian inscription Hier diente dem Kaiser 15.K.b.h.I.R.4. unter dem Oblt. Dr. J. Š[...]lik März 16.–Juni 17. VJEČNA SLAVA za domovinu poginutim: 27 DRUGOVA, located under the mountain pasture Zagreben (Web 3/Splet 3). More rare are inscriptions in the Slovenian language. At the cemetery in Ukanc, a bilingual inscription in German and Slovenian reads Den Helden vom Krn Verteidiger der Wochein/Junakom Krna braniteljem Bohinja. 3 The cultural, ethnic and religious affiliations of the sol- diers fighting along the Soča Front left their own distinc- tive marks on the landscape. A unique example was the construction of a mosque in the village of Log pod Man- gartom north of Bovec. Built by the 4 th Bosnian-Herze- govinian Infantry Regiment, the mosque served the reli- gious needs of the many Muslim Bosnian soldiers who fought in this area, and was sited nearby the (still extant) Bosnian war cemetery. The mosque was dismantled soon after the war ended, its sole lasting testimony being the photographs taken at the time. The dominant religion of the protagonists, however, was Christianity, and both sides built many religious structures behind their own lines. Chapels of various sizes were con- structed – for example, the Italian chapel Bes, the Austro– Hungarian chapel belonging to the field hospital No. 808 3 Before it was moved to the cemetery it was situated on a wall of the Church of St John the Baptist in Bohinj. at Kosovelje, and the Austro-Hungarian chapel on moun- tain pasture at Gornji Slatenik (known as Vršič Kapelle). The Austro-Hungarian church of the Holy Ghost on Javorca was constructed of wood in 1916 and renovated by the Italians in 1934 (Drole 2010, 289). Today it repre- sents a unique cultural monument, transcending the First World War conflict landscape (Koren 2008, 104–109), but ironically also overlooking several fortified bunkers of the later Vallo Alpino in the valley below. Civilians as well as soldiers suffered in the Soča Valley. Residents of some areas were forced to leave their homes just days before the start of hostilities. They were moved to other areas within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, away from the front-line (Svoljšak 2005, 10). Evacuations con- tinued after the beginning of the war. Some residents de- cided to stay in their homes, despite the fighting and the proximity of the front-line. This was the case at Tolmin, Zatolmin, Modrej and Most na Soči (Svoljšak 2005, 23). These local populations continued to cultivate the fields, sometimes even in the area between the two front-lines. Civilians were also directly implicated in the war, as when they were well paid to build roads, reserve posi- tions, shelters, and other infrastructural features (Pirih 2005, 31). Due to the coexistence of civilians and sol- diers, various misunderstandings occurred. Soldiers were often accused, and found guilty, of violence, theft and harassment of civilians (id., 32). Fieldwork reconnaissance (2009–2013) Initial archaeological and anthropological reconnaissance and fieldwork along the Soča Valley has taken the form of basic archaeological surveys, ethnographic interview- ing of individuals with private museum collections, and visits to wartime and post-war cemeteries – particularly in the limestone Kras region in the valley’s southern area. Archaeological investigations have focused on the area of the Tolmin bridgehead, in particular on Mengore Hill and the surrounding plain to the north and north-east. Meng- ore Hill is a small hill located just to the south of Tolmin and consists of three separate peaks, Mengore, Kuk and Bučenica. From 1915 to 1917 the hill formed part of the Austro-Hungarian defences of the Tolmin bridgehead. Mengore Hill was chosen due to its pivotal role in the defence of the bridgehead and the fact that a large num- ber and variety of First World War features survive there, Conflict Landscapes of the Soča/Isonzo Front, 1915–2013 57 albeit embedded within a recreational landscape popular with walkers, and also part of the “Walks of Peace” trails mentioned above (Koren 2008). Most of the wartime re- mains were constructed by the Austro-Hungarian Army, with only the most westerly point of the hill having formed part of the Italian front-line. Mengore Hill, and the surrounding area, can be regarded as a microcosm of the conflict landscapes of the Soča Front as a whole. The War on Mengore Mengore Hill and Cvetje were the main strong-points of the Tolmin bridgehead defence, and their loss would have had serious consequences for the Austro-Hungarians. Italian attacks on Mengore Hill began shortly after the start of hostilities and continued throughout the war. The ebb and flow of the fighting is recorded in detail in the historical sources, see table 1, and are also represented in the archaeological remains. The Tolmin bridgehead also played an important role in the combined Austro-Hungarian-German offensive (Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo). The 12 th Silesian Divi- sion attacked on 24 October 1917 from Bučenica and advanced towards the road to Kobarid (Galić 2005, 206). The German Alpine Corps had their starting positions on Bučenica and Mengore. Their attack was directed towards V olče and the church of St. Daniel. One of three groups from the Württemberg Mountain Battalion on the right flank was led by Lieutenant Erwin Rommel (Galić 2005, 207; Rommel 2009, 168–227; Wilks, Wilks 1998). Work on Mengore Hill has included field reconnaissance, geophysical and GPS surveys, and small-scale test-trench excavations. These have highlighted the nature of the re- Date Attacking Units Defending Units Location Achievement July, August 1915 Valtellina Brigade 2 Companies from 8 th Mountain Division, IV/37, IV/53, I/61, III/31 Mengore The Italian units captured a small number of trenches Bergamo Brigade Cvetje Capture of “Height 588” for a short period, occupation of a narrow belt of territory on the SW slopes of height 588 4. and 5. September 1915 Valtellina Brigade, Exilles Alpine Battalion Unknown Mengore Capture of a trench under Mengore summit for a short period Bergamo and Liguria Brigade Cvetje Capture and fortification of a wedge under the summit of “Height 588” 21.–24. October 1915 15 Italian Battalions III/35, III/45 Mengore, No success Cvetje “Height 588” changed hands many times 10. November–5. December 1915 7 th Division III/35 Mengore, Cvetje No success 13 th Division No success January 1916 Unknown Unknown Italian withdraw from below the top of “Height 588” and from Mengore 10. February 1916 Assault group from 8 th Mountain Brigade Unknown Western edge of Mengore (“Calvary”) A small number of Italian trenches were destroyed and a number of Italian soldiers were captured 17.–? March 1916 BHFJB 6 Unknown North–western part of Mengore The capture of 16 Italian officers, 542 soldiers, 3 machine guns, 1 mortar and the Italian Army retreated to “Calvary” 24. October 1917 Units from 12 th Silesian Division, German Alpine Corps, Württemberg Mountain Battalion, different Austro-Hungarian units Unknown Tolmin Bridgehead The combined German and Austro- Hungarian Army advanced beyond Kobarid, pushing the Italian Army back into Italy Arheo 30, 2013, 47–66 Table 1. Actions on Mengore and Cvetje. It is important to understand however, that at the key strategic points fighting took place daily. The Italian unit names are in Italics. Tabela 1. Bojne akcije na Mengorah in Cvetju. Pomembno se je zavedati, da so na pomembnih strateških točkah boji potekali vsakodnevno. Italijanske enote so v tabeli označene ležeče. 58 mains and provided a better understanding of how Meng- ore was shaped by, and how it shaped, the conflict in this small area of the Soča Front. The topography of the hill and the limestone bedrock that sits close to the surface were used to the best possible advantage by the Austro- Hungarian engineers and soldiers. A number of site types were identified here, including a searchlight position, numerous artillery emplacements, dugouts, rock-cut caverns, concrete bunkers, military roads, a military settlement, and a small cemetery, as well as front-line trenches with their associated support, re- serve, and communication trenches. More complex gal- lery systems were also noted, used variously for shelter, storage, military administration, with some constructed as emplacements for three-gun batteries (Figure 8). The front-line trench system is still extant on the western section of Mengore, with only limited natural and delib- erate backfilling having occurred. The Austro-Hungarian front line fighting trench was cut to a depth of over three metres, with the forward facing section having sustained heavy damage. The partial success of the Italian Army on this section of the front is evident in the fortification of the shell holes close to the Austro-Hungarian front line trench. Small scale test-trench excavation of a pair of shell holes just below the Austro-Hungarian front line revealed a channel linking the upper shell hole to the lower one. The upper shell hole was likely used by the Italians as a forward firing position after they over-ran the Austro-Hungarian front-line. The front lines are complemented by a number of dug- outs carved into the bedrock, which are situated at regu- lar intervals along the front line. These were cut back into the face of the hill for protection against Italian shelling. The positions of communication trenches, linking the front line sections to support and reserve trenches further up the slope are also visible, with breaks in slope being used where possible to offer shelter against Italian artil- lery fire. The topography of the western section of Meng- ore allowed for the construction of the uniform trench systems seen elsewhere on the Soča Front. The creative use of the higher ground by the Austro- Hungarian engineers is evident in the placement and con- struction of the many artillery emplacements on Mengore Hill. A rapid GPS survey revealed the strategic place- ment of the gun batteries on the high ground above the front line, and where possible, that the topography of the hill had been used to create large multi-chambered gal- leries from which artillery fire could be directed onto the extensive areas of the Italian front line below. One such emplacement was constructed beneath the Church of St Mary which sits on the peak of Mengore hill. From here, a large part of the Italian front-line and supporting artil- lery emplacements would have been vulnerable to Aus- tro-Hungarian bombardment. This emplacement consists of four openings in the rock face leading back to eight galleries constructed deep into the side of the hill. The position would have contained three artillery pieces and could have accommodated a large number of soldiers. Kuk Military Settlement The largest site still extant on Mengore Hill is the mili- tary settlement located behind Kuk peak. Its wartime ap- pearance is documented in a number of contemporary photographs, and today consists of a number of rock-cut positions and terraces which would originally have in- corporated wooden buildings. The features within the settlement highlight its domestic nature and its position of relative safety behind the front line. Inscriptions above the entrances to rock cut caverns attest to the presence of named units during the conflict, including the 4 th Infantry Battalion of the 53 rd Infantry Regiment. Conflict Landscapes of the Soča/Isonzo Front, 1915–2013 Figure 8. Internal view of wartime limestone cavern system on Mengore Hill (photo: E. Glass). Slika 8. Pogled v notranjost sistema kavern na Mengorah (foto: E. Glass). 59 The test-trench excavation of a building platform cut into the side of the hill in the middle of the settlement showed that this terrace had originally supported a domestic struc- ture, with fragments of plates and bottles making up a large proportion of the assemblage. It is likely, therefore, that it functioned as an officers’ mess or canteen for the men. The terrace also provided evidence of the later re- militarisation of the landscape, with two stone structures thought to be Yugoslav Army training positions, situated along the eastern edge of the terrace. A second terrace, located to the north-west of the settle- ment was also chosen for test-trench excavations. It was clear that this terrace was unlikely to have had a domestic function as it was vulnerable to Italian artillery – a large shell-hole was evident in the hillside below. Large irregu- lar stone blocks had been used to form a wall set back from the terrace edge. The presence of a burnt timber plank suggests that this was used as support for a wooden floor, which had subsequently caught fire. The lack of any other timber or a large quantity of nails points to a canvass superstructure over the floor, in contrast to the wooden buildings constructed on the terraces within the settle- ment. A large amount of shrapnel was collected during the course of test-trenching and it was unlikely that any permanent structure and habitation could have been pos- sible in this area without incurring a high casualty rate. The settlement included a small number of rock-cut cav- erns of varying complexity. A small test-trench in a sim- ple single gallery cavern with two entrances produced a quantity of First World War material. This included glass bottle fragments and “key openers” from food tins. A number of nails were also found, suggesting a wooden floor may have existed in the cavern. It is possible that a small wooden superstructure had been constructed around the entrance, expanding the floor space of the cavern. Such features are plainly visible in the contem- porary photographs, although it was unclear if this cavern had such a frontage. A piece of shrapnel was also recov- ered, which possibly indicates that this cavern was not out of reach of the Italian gunners (though there are other possible explanations). Kuk Military Cemetery A small front-line cemetery was created behind Kuk military settlement during the war, and it is known to have been cleared in the inter-war period. Contemporary photographs show the cemetery with approximately 94 graves visible, although over 400 soldiers are known to have been buried there (Fortunat Černilogar et al. 2005, 253–261; Koren 2008, 126, 146). These photographs also reveal that the cemetery was of mixed denomination, containing both Muslim and Christian graves. Shallow earthworks, indicating the position of over half of these graves are discernable, and ground-penetrating radar and resistivity were used to locate the missing graves and other buried features that may relate to the cemetery. Test-trench excavation on this location focused on the is- sue of the post-war clearance, and how efficient this had been (Figure 9). The combination of morphological and geophysical survey indicated well-preserved grave cuts, most likely due to the lower levels of each cut having been dug into the bedrock. The test-trench excavation identified the First World War ground-level, buried by a shallow depth of hill-wash material. A linear formation of stones, thought to line the edge of one of the graves, was discovered. The fill inside these stones was of simi- lar make-up to that of the conflict ground surface and it was initially thought that this was in fact in situ primary grave-fill. Further investigation revealed this not to be the case. The complex stratigraphy, which faced excavators with the challenge of identifying both the primary grave cut and the subsequent exhumation cut and backfill, has Arheo 30, 2013, 47–66 Figure 9. Excavation of the post-war clearance layer at Kuk Cemetery (photo: N. J. Saunders). Slika 9. Izkopavanje povojnega horizonta prekopavanja grobišč na pokopališču pod Kukom na Mengorah (foto: N. J. Saunders). 60 yielded significant insights into the relationship between these two events. However the results of the last cam- paign are still being studied. The Plain below Mengore The trench systems constructed on the western sector of Mengore Hill extended out northwards onto the plain around the Tolmin bridgehead. These were backfilled shortly after the end of the war. Aerial photographs indi- cate the position of these trenches, and two locations to the north and north–east of Mengore Hill were chosen for geophysical survey in order to ground-truth the presence of sections of the trench system (Figure 10). The sur- vey was designed to test whether these would be visible on the data plots. The short duration of the life of these trenches, the disturbance of the ground by artillery fire, and subsequent agricultural practices implied that they could be difficult to identify using resistivity. The use of magnetometry was ruled out due to the likelihood of high concentrations of shrapnel and other miscellaneous metal fragments. Clear linear features were evident on the data plots from the first survey location, which correlated with the aerial photographs. However the second survey area, St. Dan- iele, produced no features indicative of trench systems. These anomalies probably reflect the effects of modern landscaping which has significantly altered the topogra- phy of the surveyed area. Mt. Batognica, a High-Mountain Battlefield A distinctive feature of the First World War in the Soča Valley was that it took place in very different topographi- cal zones, albeit that these were adjacent to each other, and linked by roads, paths, and trenches. Any attempt to understand this wider geographical perspective and the varied materialities which connected the different zones has to include investigation of the high-mountain bat- tlefields. Initial reconnaissance has shown that the mili- tarisation of such areas required a different strategy to that of lower areas such as Mengore Hill, and that sol- diers’ experiences and the material legacies of mountain warfare differed significantly between higher and lower altitudes. The physical, sensorial, and organizational ef- fort required to make trenches, raise then position heavy artillery, and keep men supplied was matched only by the stress, psychological pressures, and brute strength in- volved in sustaining combat operations. Mt. Batognica, close to the town of Kobarid, stands at 2,164m above sea level and was one of the highest peaks to form the front-line. Reconnaissance identified a number of sites that have survived well on the western slopes of the mountain. These include Italian communication trenches and a small cemetery. On the summit, Italian and Austro-Hungarian trench systems are extant, as are large rock-cut caverns, machine-gun posts, and hundreds of metres of underground galleries. Between the oppos- ing front-line trenches, a number of large mine-craters are evident. Small terraces quarried into the mountain- side survive behind the Italian front-line, some of which have collapsed and may have originally supported tem- porary domestic structures. These sites are similar in gen- eral character to those on Mengore Hill. Harsh terrain, and the exposed mountaintop location, dic- tated that larger, more complex systems of underground caverns were required. One consequence of this, investi- gations revealed, was that fewer small rock-cut caverns were evident, and that recessed caverns, used as gun em- placements, were not present. On the other hand, great- er use was made of concrete along the front-line in the construction of machine-gun posts. While the terrain had Conflict Landscapes of the Soča/Isonzo Front, 1915–2013 Figure 10. Excavation of First World War trench on the plain nearby Tolmin (photo: N. J. Saunders). Slika 10. Izkopavanje jarka iz prve svetovne vojne na ravnici pri Tolminu (foto: N. J. Saunders). 61 been used to the best possible advantage, there were very few areas safe from the reach of heavy artillery of both sides. The remains of one of these artillery pieces were found below the peak, and behind the Italian lines. An insightful observation was that at some places the oppos- ing front-line trenches were only about 20m apart, and so quite apart from enduring the severe weather conditions of altitude, soldiers on both sides could have heard and spoken to each other. This raises questions about “live- and-let-live” practices – common on the Western Front (Ashworth 2004) – and perhaps other kinds of fraternisa- tion along the Soča Valley during the war. Significantly, even at this altitude, there is a commem- orative layer nested within the remains of the wartime landscape. Several artillery shells have been set up as memorials and an artillery piece has also been preserved (Figure 11). A small shrine focused on a cross construct- ed from discarded metal bars, crowned with a circlet of barbed wire, was located just below the peak and adja- cent to the main access pathway to the summit. Although some conservation is likely, there exists a wartime photo- graph showing soldiers standing next to the cross (itself mounted atop a rock). Below this shrine, a large inscrip- tion had been chiselled into a prepared flat face of rock commemorating the losses amongst Alpini in an attack on the Austro-Hungarian front line. The Kras (Carso): Memories and Commemoration The southernmost part of our study area is the limestone Kras, and it is here, and in the adjacent Soča river valley area immediately to the west, that most soldiers, artil- lery, and matériel were deployed between 1915 and 1917 (Fabi 2009). Reconnaissance to date has taken the form of site visits to locate, describe, and photograph the (mainly Austro-Hungarian) wartime and post-war cemeteries and monuments and Second World War partisan memorials scattered across the region. The aim is to identify a sam- ple for future archaeological (survey and geophysical) and anthropological (ethnographic and material culture) investigation. To date, 22 sites (mainly cemeteries) have been visited. The issues upon which future fieldwork in this area will focus include exploring why some cemeter- ies have been preserved/conserved almost in their original state, while others have had their grave-markers moved to the interior boundary walls of the cemetery, and still others appear to have virtually no trace of their grave- markers at all. In the latter case, this is because they have been removed and re-used for post-1918 reconstruction (house building), and in at least one example, for lining the walls of a nearby village’s main street. There are issues here concerning local communities’ var- ying attitudes to their nearby war cemeteries and monu- ments, the selective renovation of some of these, and the varying degrees of care and authenticity involved in this process. Issues of identity/ethnicity and relationships with war memory (for both First and Second World Wars) caused by population movements since 1918 will also be part of future investigations. There is also the compara- tively recent phenomenon of new commemorative mate- rialities (from coloured ribbons to memorial plaques) be- ing added to some cemeteries which contain the remains of soldiers from those parts of the Austro-Hungarian Em- pire which, since the fall of the Iron Curtain, are now in- dependent nations, and which, for varying reasons, have chosen to begin visiting the Kras’ Great War cemeteries and leaving traces of their presence (Figure 12). Discussion and Conclusions The Soča Valley preserves an extraordinary First World War conflict landscape, where the traces of military ac- tion and the multiple overlapping legacies of the war’s aftermath are still visible, and thus possess a significant potential for combined archaeological and anthropologi- Arheo 30, 2013, 47–66 Figure 11. Artillery-shell memorial surrounded by war debris on the summit of Mt. Batognica (photo: N. J. Saunders). Slika 11. Na Batognici razstavljena granata, ki jo obdajajo drugi ostanki vojne (foto: N. J. Saunders). 62 cal investigations. Despite the superimposition and in- terleaving of conflict-related layers over a period of one hundred years, the high degree of preservation offers a unique opportunity to study not only the First World War, but also the political, cultural and later military and civilian landscapes which were a direct consequence of the war. Not least of these was the complex sequence of events which followed the 1918 collapse of the Austro- Hungarian Empire: the annexation of the Soča Valley by Italy, its subsequent incorporation into Yugoslavia, and its more recent incorporation into the newly independent Republic of Slovenia. The Soča Front, like the Western and Eastern Fronts, was characterised by trench warfare, and vast stretches of these features can still be traced today. In the Soča Valley, along the plains and adjacent high peaks, topographical challenges required local adaptations to the trench sys- tem of warfare. Military history accounts, contemporary photographs, local knowledge, and the results of several years’ field reconnaissance have shown that many other types of sites complemented these trench systems. The Austro-Hungarian military engineers in particular were adept at maximising the tactical and strategic advantages of topographical defence, as the Italian Army – never able to make a decisive war-winning breakthrough - found to its cost. Archaeological and anthropological reconnaissance since 2009 has begun to shed light on the human experience of conflict on the Soča Front – especially how soldiers adapted to fighting a modern industrialised conflict in a region of harsh and diverse environments. Fieldwork observations, interviewing, and limited archaeological test-trench excavations have begun to build a nuanced and multidimensional picture of the nature of the conflict and its legacies along the valley. The types of artefacts recovered offer insights into the personal as well as mili- tary lives of the soldiers of the many nationalities which fought along the Soča Valley. Furthermore, a multidisciplinary approach within an an- thropologically-theorised framework, has allowed later commemorative, monumentalised, and remilitarised landscapes to be identified and explored, and a sequence of at least 12 layers of the conflict landscape to be identi- fied. The consolidation of the First World War dead into larger cemeteries, the erection of monuments and in- scriptions, the construction of parts of Mussolini’s Vallo Alpino defensive line, Second World War partisan com- memorative monuments, post war Yugoslavian militari- sation, and the creation of an independent Slovenian state alongside the construction of a new Slovenian national identity, have all been identified in the landscapes and materialities of the investigation to date. Each of these layers is part of the palimpsest conflict landscape which originated with and is embedded within, the First World War wartime landscape. Conceptualising and investigating the Soča Valley’s conflict landscape in this way reveals far more than the remains of three years’ fighting. It is not simply a mat- ter of the bullets, bombs, and buttons which are some- times claimed as “discoveries” by narrowly-focused investigators along the Western Front (Saunders 2010b, 98–175). The Soča Valley investigations have sought to cast a broader analytical net over a century of military, political, and cultural change in the area, and thereby to explore how such layers of landscape can be assessed, how they can be investigated archaeologically, how they were experienced by soldiers and civilians, how they are remembered (officially and unofficially), and how they have been, and continue to be reconfigured as meaningful landscapes of heritage and tourism. Conflict Landscapes of the Soča/Isonzo Front, 1915–2013 Figure 12. Czech commemorative ribbon tied to the gate of the Austro-Hungarian cemetery of Brje pri Komnu 2, on the Kras. The cemetery holds 1500 bodies and was renovated in 2003 (photo: N. J. Saunders). Slika 12. Češki komemorativni trak na vratih avstro-ogrskega pokopališča Brje pri Komnu 2 na Krasu. Na pokopališču, obnovljenem v letu 2003, je pokopanih okoli 1500 vojakov (foto: N. J. Saunders). 63 The preliminary work so far has demonstrated the quality of the archaeology and the richness of the artefact record that survives in situ within the still extant features. The artefacts reveal elements of the lived human experience of the conflict and how the soldiers dealt with life and death along the geographically diverse zones of the Soča Valley. This research has also demonstrated the existence of rich sources of local historical, archival, and oral tradi- tions. When these are combined with the material culture of public and private museums and collections, there is the opportunity to produce a uniquely detailed and nu- anced appreciation of the conflict landscape in its totality and over a period of one hundred years. A topic not directly approached in this paper, but one that will have an important impact on the preservation and ex- istence of the in situ information is the protection of these complex, multi-layered and exceptionally meaningful re- mains. The heritage protection law from 2008 (ZVKD-1) has recognized their importance and has widely accepted them as archaeological heritage. However the full imple- mentation of the law and the connectedness of different approaches for the benefit of this valuable heritage will have to be sought in the future. Our paper might be a stone in the mosaic of this endeavour. Acknowledgements We have received considerable help, advice, technologi- cal assistance and personal insights from a wide range of institutions and individuals since 2009. We are grateful to the University of Bristol (especially Professor Alex- ander Bird and Professor Robert Bickers), the University of Ljubljana, Kobarid Museum (Jože Šerbec, Director, Željko Cimprič and Nejc Šerbec), David Thorpe, Marko Štepec (National Museum of Contemporary History, Ljubljana), the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Centre for Preventive Archaeology (Gašper Rutar, Tina Nanut and Barbara Nadbath, Head of the Centre), Emily Glass, Aleksander Jankovič Potočnik, Anton Marn, Rok Petrič, Ana Inkret, Gašper Košir, Peter Kogoj and Kate Mees. Arheo 30, 2013, 47–66 64 Prispevek predstavlja potencial večdisciplinarnega razi- skovalnega pristopa bojišč modernih konfliktov na ob- močju soške fronte iz časa prve svetovne vojne, ki je med letoma 1915 in 1917 potekala od Rombona do Tržaškega zaliva. V tem prostoru, ki ga zaznamuje tudi velika topografska pestrost, je utrjevanje strateških pozicij potekalo že pred prvo svetovno vojno in naznanjalo bližajoči se konflikt. Kar je sledilo v letih 1915 do 1917, je dramatično zazna- movalo in za zmeraj spremenilo pokrajino ter ljudi, ki so v njej živeli in živijo. Ob tem pa so tudi obdobja, ki so sledila, prostoru vtisnila svoj pečat in tako ustvarila palimpsest različnih pokrajin konfliktov, v katerih se je ohranil edinstven in izredno kompleksen arheološki in antropološki zapis večnacionalnih spopadov, prepleten z ostanki iz medvojnih in povojnih obdobij. Posočje je tako postalo simbol vojaških, političnih in kulturnih spre- memb v preteklem stoletju evropske zgodovine. Preliminarno vrednotenje, ki je potekalo v letih 2009 do 2013, je razkrilo številne plasti različnih arheološko-an- tropoloških pokrajin, ki sooblikujejo Posočje, kot ga po- znamo danes. Večdisciplinarni pristop, s poudarjeno an- tropološko noto, je omogočal identifikacijo in vpogled v najmanj dvanajst različnih militariziranih, komemorativ- nih in remilitariziranih pokrajin, ki zajemajo vse od pred- vojnih vojaških struktur, ostankov iz časa prve svetovne vojne, pa vse do ustvarjanja spominskih pokrajin ter iz- gradnje novih kolektivnih identitet v različnih obdobjih. Z raziskavami poskušamo osvetliti človeška izkustva s konflikti na območju soške fronte, posebno prilagoditve vojakov na industrializirano bojevanje, ki se je odvijalo v pokrajini z raznolikimi in ostrimi okoljskimi dejavniki. Z integracijo rezultatov različnih raziskovalnih metod in pristopov se je tako začela oblikovati večdimenzionalna slika tako neposrednega bojevanja v času prve svetovne vojne kot njene zapuščine, s katerimi so bili osebno ter širše družbeno zaznamovani pripadniki različnih naro- dnosti, ki so bili udeleženi v bojih ob Soči. Pokrajine konfliktov soške fronte, 1915–2013: arheološko-antropološko ovrednotenje Posočja (Povzetek) Ob tem so preliminarne raziskave pokazale tudi na ka- kovost in situ ohranjenih arheoloških ostalin, ki lahko pomembno dopolnjujejo bogate zgodovinske, arhivske ter ustne vire o vojaških operacijah in obdobjih pred po neposrednih vojnih obdobjih. Ob združitvi vseh teh z materialno kulturo v javnih in zasebnih muzejih ter zbir- kah si lahko obetamo izjemno natančno sliko pokrajin konfliktov od njihovega nastanka do danes. Ob tem pa je v zaključku potrebno omeniti tudi temo, ki je sicer v prispevku neposredno ne obravnavamo, a je ključnega pomena za obstoj in ohranitev kakovostnih in situ ostankov, njeno varovanje. Z zakonom o varstvu kulturne dediščine (ZVKD-1) je večji del teh ostankov prepoznanih kot arheološka dediščina, a bo do njegove polne uveljavitve in do morebitne povezave širše pale- te interesnih skupin z različnimi mnenji in pristopi do te in tovrstne dediščine najverjetneje potrebno prehoditi še dolgo pot. Morda je ta prispevek en korak na tej poti. Conflict Landscapes of the Soča/Isonzo Front, 1915–2013 65 References ASHWORTH, T. 2004, Trench Warfare 1914–1918: The Live and Let Live System. London. BERNASCONI, A., G. MURAN 2009, Il testimone di cemento – Le fortificazioni del “Vallo Alpino Littorio” in Cadore, Carnia e Tarvisiano. Udine. BRESSAN, F., F. CUCCHI, E. MONTAGNARI KOKE- LJ, C. PIANO, L. 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