Published in 2018 at the close of the centenary of the First World War, Traces of war takes the opportunity to reflect upon two decades of archaeological exploration of the Western Front in Belgium. A companion to the recent exhibition of the same name at the In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres, it brings together a wealth of information about Flemish First World War archaeology, with easily accessible text and excellent images. Making sense of a conflict on the overwhelming industrial scale of the First World War, with its mind-numbing statistics, is sometimes a challenge, but it is deftly accomplished in Traces of war: it is through archaeology that we “can make the past tangible, illustrating day-to-day life in the trenches and military camps behind the front; the continual battle against the elements; coping with death” (p. 18).

The book itself is well designed, with thick matt paper pages and a wealth of high-quality images, including historical and aerial photographs, archival documents, maps, plans, excavation photographs, images of artefacts and geophysical survey interpretations. Illustrations are accompanied by informative captions, and the text is sign-posted with useful sub-headings and occasional pop-out text blocks with interesting facts.

Traces of war is arranged in 11 short chapters that cover a number of discrete but interlinked themes. It begins with an introductory overview of First World War archaeology, particularly the shift from treasure-hunting in the mid twentieth century to increasingly professionalised excavations from the 1990s onwards. First World War archaeology was pioneered by dedicated volunteers and a few professional archaeologists who dug on their holidays. Other than the efforts of these individuals, First World War remains were recorded only when they intersected with older archaeology. In the 2000s, an increased interest in the history and culture of the First World War, alongside large-scale infrastructure projects in Belgium, highlighted the potential of, and provided the opportunity for, professional excavation. By the mid 2000s there were several very good English-language publications (for example, Barton et al. Reference Barton, Doyle and Vandewalle2006) about the archaeology of the First World War in Flanders, but these were written by British archaeologists who were concerned specifically with the British war experience. Flemish publications were not often translated. It is worth highlighting that Traces of war redresses this balance, presenting research by the Belgian archaeological community (expertly translated into English).

The first chapter looks at the area occupied by the 23^rd German Reserve Corps at Bikschote from the start of the war. By focusing on one unit, it offers a look at the human cost of war, including the discovery of human remains, as well as illustrating the learning curve for the German army as they constructed ad hoc entrenchments, which would be improved upon as the war dragged on into 1915 and beyond. Chapter 2 offers a detailed look at the northern Ypres Salient, compiling information on over a decade of different excavations. It shows a timeline of how trench warfare developed and how different the reality of trench life could be from the standards set out in official documents. Archaeology's role in uncovering and identifying missing soldiers is considered in the third chapter. The memorial landscape of Flanders is highly visible, from the Menin Gate in Ypres to the rows of white headstones in military cemeteries such as Tyne Cot. Discovering and, if possible, identifying the dead has long been an emotive part of First World War archaeology. Archaeologists work hard to tease out individual stories from the statistics, returning identities to the anonymous dead and trying to trace their living family members. Most remains, of course, will never be identified, and the authors describe the different types of burial contexts on the Western Front, from shell holes to mass graves to cleared burial grounds. The fourth chapter examines life behind the front lines, in locations such as hospitals and camps. This includes a discussion of First World War archaeology's rich record of small finds, which give us a glimpse of everyday activity and the adaptation of mass-produced items into personal objects. Chapters 5 and 6 look at more focused themes: the use of horses and mules at the front, and food (sometimes the former becoming the latter). Chapter 7 considers the geographic reach of total war far from the frontlines, including training trenches and airfields, reminding us that the impact of war stretched well beyond the trenches. This wider geography is captured again in the following two chapters, which examine historical and new aerial photography, and laser scanning from the air. The In Flanders Fields Museum has established the Centre for Historical & Archaeological Aerial Photography (Centrum voor Historische & Archeologische Luchtfotografie), and this chapter includes many excellent images. The results of laser scanning with aircraft-mounted lidar (light detection and ranging) are reported and hundreds of new sites of interest are highlighted. Chapter 10 continues the discussion of non-invasive survey, this time reporting the results of on-the-ground geophysical survey. The visual interpretations of this survey, as well as that of the lidar survey in the previous chapter, are clearly presented and transcribed so that they are easy to understand. Traces of war concludes with an assessment of heritage policy towards First World War remains in Belgium, from early efforts at establishing open-air museums and post-Second World War commemoration, to full-scale inventorying at the start of the twenty-first century and recognition of the battlefields as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Traces of war is a good compilation of the archaeological investigations of the Western Front in Flanders. It is accessible for a popular audience with engaging, easy-to-read text and excellent images, but with enough detail to please specialists. It charts the development of First World War archaeology and shows that, despite the fact that 1914–1918 was a period rich in documentation, including letters, photographs, films and bureaucratic reports, archaeology has much to add, not the least of which is a tangible connection to a past no longer in living memory.