Fieldwork

The Project’s first fieldwork in the Falkland Islands took place in March-April 2022. The team spent most of the season on Mount Tumbledown. In the field, we used foot and drone survey and then recorded finds and features through geo-location, photogrammetry, 3-d scanning, and drawing. All finds were left in situ.

The Tumbledown survey informed in three main ways. Firstly, the team were able to record a large proportion of Argentine defensive positions, including many previously unknown. Sangars, shelters, fortifications and dispersed objects were found and recorded. Secondly, the team were able to locate material remains linked to the battle itself: craters and other scarring left by exploding shells and mortars, expended rifle rounds and munitions, and so on. Thirdly, the team were able to map more recent uses of the landscape. These have also left a material signature and, in some respects, link back to the events of 1982. These include, for example, military training exercises by the Falkland Island Defence Force and British Forces South Atlantic Islands Roulement Infantry Company. Also present were commemorative deposits of veterans, families of the fallen, and islanders. 

 Members of the team also visited Ajax Bay, Goose Green and Pebble Island.

 The team is very appreciative to everyone in the Falkland Islands for making us so feel so welcome.