Intelligence Preparation Of The Archaeological Battlefield: Applying Military Intelligence Methodologies To Battlefield Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Intelligence Preparation Of The Battlefield (IPB) is a systematic process implemented by intelligence professionals to analyze the threat and the environment continuously. Thus enabling a military commander to maximize combat power in present and future operations. When applied to the archaeological study of the Battle Of Big Dry Wash (Arizona, 1882), it provided archaeologists insight into how and why the battle unfolded spatially. Moreover, the evolution of this four-step process into IPAB enabled archaeologists to confirm, refute, and add to the historical record information critical to this unpopulurized battle during the Apache Wars. The first step in implementing IPAB involved defining the operational environment; secondly, it focused on determining the environmental effects of the Mogollon Rim on combatants; third, it evaluates the force capabilities of all Apache and U.S. Army Forces; and fourth, it determined courses of action taken by Apache and Army leaders.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow