T.E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt: The Archaeology of a Desert Insurgency 1916-18

Professor Nicholas Saunders, from the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at Bristol University, presents a talk inspired by his upcoming book Desert Insurgency: T.E. Lawrence, Archaeology and the Arab Revolt, at the National Civil War Museum, Newark, on Saturday 3rd February 2018 at 2 pm. Between 1916 and 1918, the Arab Revolt in southern Jordan created a unique archaeological record of a desert insurgency which changed the Middle East and brought modern guerrilla warfare to the world. Ten years of fieldwork between 2005 and 2014 by Bristol University’s ‘Great Arab Revolt Project’ investigated these remains for the first time. The discoveries were extraordinary – a vast conflict landscape of guerrilla actions and counter-insurgency tactics unknown to anyone except the Bedouin for 100 years. Ruined Hejaz Railway stations, Turkish Army camps, Rolls Royce armoured car raiding camps, hilltop forts, machinegun strong-points, and the extraordinary remains of the iconic train ambush immortalised in David Lean’s 1962 Hollywood epic Lawrence of Arabia. This is the archaeology of a snapshot of momentous historical events, whose legacy affects all of us today.