Archaeology and Monument Protection in War: The Collaboration Between the German Army and Researchers in the Ottoman Empire, 1914–1918

Abstract

Stein explores how conflict in the Middle East served as a catalyst for research on, and the protection of, cultural patrimony by transforming the work of German military archaeologists and art historians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The chapter examines how wartime mobilization offered German researchers access to parts of the allied Ottoman Empire which had previously been denied to them by the authorities, and how the military in turn afforded scholars infrastructural support through, most notably, the first systematic collection of aerial photographs of ancient sites by the German air force. Stein also examines how the work of these archaeologists in uniform was incorporated into post-war propaganda campaigns to rehabilitate Germany’s reputation as a preserver, rather than destroyer, of cultural heritage.