Cutting the landscape : investigating the 1917 battlefield of the Messines Ridge

Between 26 March and 21 December 2012, archaeological excavations were undertaken at Messines in advance of the laying of a new system of underground sewage pipes. Messines was in the front area during the entire war, and its landscape is thus the record of overlapping military actions. Due to the linear nature of the research area, an archaeological cross-section was made of the former battlefield around the town, cutting across the different lines of the German trench network, including the June 1917 battlefield and, importantly, the post-battle British trench network. The First World War had such a profound impact on the Messines landscape that by November 1918 every pre-war landmark had been wiped out as a result of more than four years of artillery bombardment – another widespread occurrence along the Western Front