Waterloo Uncovered: From Discoveries in Conflict Archaeology to Military Veteran Collaboration and Recovery on One of the World’s Most Famous Battlefields.

Abstract

Waterloo Uncovered is a ground-breaking conflict archaeology project, on the Waterloo battlefield in Belgium. Established in 2015 (the battle’s bicentenary year) to learn more about the battle that shaped modern Europe, it supports Serving Personnel and Veterans (SPV) in their well-being, recovery (from mental and physical injury), education, vocation and transition into civilian life. This project brings together professional archaeologists, students, SPV and volunteers, in a mutually beneficial collaboration. It has five founding partner organisations: SPW (Service Public de Wallonie), The Centre for Battlefield Archaeology (University of Glasgow), L - P : Archaeology, ORBit team, Department of Soil Management (Ghent University), University College Roosevelt (Utrecht University).The charity is also dedicated to educating the general public about its findings; these are changing the way we understand both the Battle of Waterloo, and how we support our armed forces. This paper discusses the project so far, and our future research goals.