Survival Compasses, Parachutes, LPUs, and More: Life Support as Material Evidence

Summary

Like any type of archaeologically recovered material culture, the debris found at an aircraft crash site can be classified in a myriad of ways, potentially focused upon shape, function, material, and/or interpretive value for the specific research questions at hand.  While DPAA archaeology is informed by the broader patterns of archaeological interpretation and analysis, the focus of a DPAA crash site investigation or recovery effort is upon a singular event, such as the loss of an individual aircraft or missing aircrew members.  Within this context, life support items, typically comprised of survival kit gear and ejection equipment, may or may not have value as probative material evidence, depending upon the type of airframe, the number of crew members, and the period of loss.  This paper provides a general overview of life support gear as an analytical construct and its relative interpretive value from World War II through the Vietnam War.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• "Same Same, but Different": Considerations and Approaches to Archaeology within the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 583