Integrating Archaeology and Landscape Analysis for the Cultural Heritage Management of a World War I Militarised Landscape: The German Field Defences in Antwerp

The approaching centenary of the start of World War I and the booming cultural tourism at the former Western Front in Belgium, combined with recent urbanisation and agricultural intensification processes, have promoted the demand for a more effective and sustainable heritage management. In addition, there is need for interdisciplinary research on how war and socio-natural landscapes reciprocally reproduce each other in time and space. The focus of this paper is a WWI defence system in the Province of Antwerp (Belgium), some 100 km to the east of the actual Western frontline. Research included the inventory and evaluation of the remaining above-ground relics of military features in a landscape archaeological perspective, based on WWI aerial photographs, historical maps and fieldwork. Landscape types and dynamics were identified from 1918 to 2011, based on a time series of aerial photos and maps, complemented with fieldwork. Second, an overall vision was formulated for sustainable heritage management of the militarised landscape. Both vision and practical recommendations are immediately useful for policy makers and stakeholders.