From 19:30 until 21:30
At Community Hub Arch cafe
15 Mark Ln, Leeds, LS2 8JA
Compared to the great scientific debates of our age, archaeological investigations seem relatively benign. However, certain investigations speak to our deepest sense of cultural identity – the result being that fiction is pitched against fact, and the grit of the amateur is played off against the arrogance of the expert.
A decade ago, rumours emerged of a lost squadron of Spitfire aircraft buried at a former airbase in Myanmar (Burma). The passionate account of an amateur conflict archaeologist triggered negotiations at the highest level of government, and permission was granted to excavate the aircraft. The account was supported by circumstantial reports, and the only ‘hard evidence’ was some rather over-embellished subsurface geophysical data.
Dr Adam Booth is Associate Professor of Applied Geophysics in the University of Leeds School of Earth and Environment, and undertook several geophysical investigations for the Burma Spitfires project. In this talk, he will review the evidence for and against the burial of the lost squadron, and consider why conflict archaeology can very much live up to its name.