Current Fieldwork

An Archaeological Survey of the Anzac Battlefield

Professor Antonio Sagona and Assoc Professor Chris Mackie of the Centre are part of a multi-disciplinary, international and collaborative project, involving the Department of Veterans ’ Affairs (Canberra), Turkish and New Zealand experts, and a host of researchers from Australia. The primary aim of the project is to provide a holistic picture of the battlefield area, using archaeological, historical and literary data. Assoc Professor Sagona's part in the project is to coordinate the extensive archaeological investigations with a view to providing the respective governments with all the essential data required for a comprehensive heritage management plan. While the focus of the survey will be the 1915 battlefield, the project aims to record other archaeological sites and material in order to place the modern conflict in its proper cultural and geographical context.

Assoc Professor Mackie brings another disciplinary perspective to this archaeological fieldwork with a focus on Gallipoli and the Classics. Udertaking research into the many references to Homer, Troy, and the Classics in the written record of the Gallipoli campaign, research will concentrate on the close proximity of Troy and Gallipoli (just across the Dardanelles from one another) and the fact that some participants in the campaign evoked Achilles and the Trojan war in their writings. This research will explore the strong tradition of Classics in education in the pre-Great war period, especially in Britain, and the way that this influenced some Gallipoli writings.

Current News

University of Melbourne scholars to study Gallipoli battlefield, UniNews Vol. 15, No. 7, 1 - 15 May 2006]