Archaeological research into battlefields and military action in the Czech lands in the early modern age. History, state of knowledge, discussion
Abstract
The objective of this article is to summarise and assess the development of archaeological interest in modern-age battlefields and military action in the territory of the present-day Czech Republic. The chronological framework of the overview is rooted in the current historical definition of the modern age, from the second half of the 15th-16th century until the second half of the 18th -first decades of the 19th century.
History of the archaeological study of modern-age military action goes back to the early 20th century. Since the onset, research has primarily focused on battlefields and remains of field fortifications.
First, there were only isolated investigations; long-term, systematic interdisciplinary research projects have been conducted since the 1980s. The development of research in recent years has been contributed to by modern technologies: Aerial photography, laser scanning of the surface of the ground and prospecting with metal detectors.