Military archaeology is one of the main study areas ACR was founded to research. Our staff posses extensive knowledge of military history and material culture. Since 2002, ACR has been involved in locating, recording, and interpreting five historic battlefields. By combining extensive archival research, field reconnaissance, interviewing local informants, completing systematic metal detector surveys, and detailed artifact recovery and recording, ACR has helped define the boundaries of the following battlefields:
- Connor's Tongue River Fight (1865)
- Fetterman (1866)
- Rosebud (1876)
In 2010, ACR, working under a grant provided by the American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP), located the Indian War engagement known as the December 6th (1866) battlefield. The battle, which was a running engagement punctuated by a series of small ambushes and skirmishes, occurred within a 25 square mile area. The exact location of the skirmishes was unknown prior to beginning the fieldwork. By combining extensive archival research, field reconnaissance, interviewing local informants, completing systematic metal detector surveys, and detailed artifact recovery and recording, ACR located one of the main skirmish locations. Once the skirmish site was located, ACR then evaluated the military significance of the terrain through a KOCOA analysis. The US military developed a KOCOA process, which consists of:
- Key Terrain/Decisive Terrain
- Obsrvation and Fields of Fire
- Concealment and Cover
- Obstacles
- Avenues of Approach/Withdrawal
ACR is currently involved in the archeology of the ambush, the study of how the indigenous population used the landscape and their unique warfare style to overwhelm regular U.S. military troops in the mid-late 19th century. ACR has completed research at the December 6th and Fetterman battlefields and is currently completing archival research and field reconnaissances in an attempt to locate the Crazy Woman Battlefield (1866).
