The Archaeology of Arms: New Analytical Approaches

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "The Archaeology of Arms: New Analytical Approaches," at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Arms technology has an evolutionary history. Small arms and artillery brought about massive changes in the scope and nature of human conflict. Arms became distinctive elements of regional material culture throughout the world. It is not surprising that gun parts and ammunition are nearly ubiquitous in most historical archeological assemblages. With thoughtful consideration, archeological residues of arms usage can provide significant insights into the human past.

This symposium presents the application of a variety of scientific analysis methods that are being used today to better explicate arms parts and ammunition components found in archeological contexts. The presenters descriptions of analytical techniques, and conceptual approaches demonstrate how they can be usefully employed to investigate important human behaviors that involved arms use.