Can Firing Position of WWII Soldiers Be Determined by Shell Scatters? Preliminary Data from Experimental Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This poster describes results from an experiment designed to determine if there is consistency in the shell scatter patterns of the Colt 1911, Thompson M1A1 Submachine Gun, M1 Carbine and M1 Garand, all common weapons of the American World War II Soldier. Forensic Ballistic evidence has proven to be a valid method of inquiry when determining the movements of the individual during battle. This experiment endeavors to take the understanding beyond just movement to the firing position (kneeling, standing, prone etc.) of an individual soldier and to understand if this position can be determined in an archaeological context from the shell scatter pattern in the weapons listed above. The experiment conducted was limited in scope to determine the potential of this type of research and consisted of firing full clips of each weapon in firing positions described by period training manuals and films. The weapons and ammunition were consistent with the military weapons of the period. The resulting shell scatters were mapped to determine the correlation between shooting position and the position of the shells. The preliminary results of the limited experiment are presented here as well as recommendations for continuing the research.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25213