News / bristol university
History of the war horse uncovered
Archaeologists from the University of Bristol have been uncovering the secret history of Britain’s war horses.
More than half-a-million horses, mules and donkeys hauled weaponry, stores and personnel to and from the front line in World War One. Philip Rowe, from the University’s Department of Archaeology and Anthropology said: “Horses were such an important part of the legacy of World War One. The Digging War Horse (project) helps people to understand the significance of horses during the war years at home and abroad.”
Archaeologists joined forces with school children to excavate a site at Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. It is believed be the site of a specialised veterinary hospital which would have quarantined and cared for some of the 500,000 animals which went to war. Most of the animals were commandeered from British families or imported from the Americas and Iberian Peninsula during the Great War.
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During the two week survey test pits were dug and a metal detection survey conducted and, although they found no trace of the veterinary buildings, archaeologists did discover horse shoes, farrier’s nails and other detritus of equine activity.
Service men and women injured in Afghanistan joined the dig as part of an exercise run by the Defence Archaeology Group. The award winning Operation Nightingale organises projects to support injured soldiers’ rehabilitation through archaeology. The soldiers used their expertise in geophysics, scrutiny of the ground, team management and mapping to help complete the dig.
The Digging War Horse project will officially finish in March.
Image by Aleksei Lazukov / Shutterstock.com“>Shutterstock
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