Department of History, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH, United Kingdom; School of Archaeological and Forensic Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, BD7 1DP, United Kingdom.
Ruben Willaert NV, Ten Briele 14.15, 8200 Bruges, Belgium; Skylarcs VZW, Belgium.
Forensic Sci Int. 2020 Dec;317:110568. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2020.110568. Epub 2020 Nov 4.
During the First World War, German, French, and British soldiers were provided with identity discs or bracelets containing personal information to ensure that they could be identified, were they to die in battle. Each combatant nation developed their system in response to the difficulties encountered in relation to the identification and burial of dead on the battlefield, in accordance with the requirements of the 1906 Geneva Convention. As a result, it is possible to encounter a variety of designs issued during the war, including historical patterns which had been re-issued. Though it is not unusual to discover the presence of skeletal remains from the First World War during archaeological works in France and Belgium, it is a rare occasion to also recover an identity disc. This paper will describe how soldiers located during archaeological works are identified, making recommendations for the improved recording of skeletal remains recovered during the excavation process to assist the investigative procedures. These recommendations may also be applied to the discovery of more recent military remains, e.g. soldiers who died during the Second World War, where evidence of war crimes may be present.
在第一次世界大战期间，德国、法国和英国的士兵都配备了载有个人信息的身份牌或手镯，以确保他们在战场上阵亡时能够被识别。每个参战国家都根据 1906 年日内瓦公约的要求，针对战场上死者身份识别和埋葬方面遇到的困难，制定了自己的系统。因此，在战争期间有可能遇到各种设计的身份牌，包括重新发行的历史图案。尽管在法国和比利时的考古工作中发现第一次世界大战时期的骨骼遗骸并不罕见，但发现身份牌的情况却很少见。本文将描述如何在考古工作中识别士兵的身份，并就如何改进挖掘过程中发现的骨骼遗骸的记录提出建议，以协助调查程序。这些建议也可以应用于发现更近期的军事遗骸，例如在第二次世界大战期间死亡的士兵，因为可能存在战争罪的证据。
