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Day 11 UPDATE – The final trenches

Today the final trenches were opened. They were in the east end of the killing zone and ran from the base of the garden wall to the fence which marks the southern edge of the narrow strip, which the French had to cross in their attack on the wall. The purpose for these trenches was […]

FINAL DAY

After two fantastic weeks of digging and discoveries, our excavation has come to an end. The team has been doing some great work and as Bobby said, “We worked hard, but laughed hard as well!” Everyone seems to have had quite a blast and it’s good to see such happy faces every day. Our team […]

First Week at Hougoumont

Listen to our Archaeological Directors summarise the first week of excavation of our 2017 season at Hougoumont ...

Excavating the Killing Zone

Watch archaeologist Sam Wilson explain the work done by Waterloo Uncovered in July 2017 in the Killing Zone at Hougoumont ...

Activity Report 2017

In 2017 Waterloo Uncovered focused their work on two areas of the Waterloo Battlefield: Hougoumont Farm and Mont Saint Jean. Hougoumont Farm (where one of the pivotal actions of the battle took place in 1815) has been the site of WU excavations since 2015. Mont Saint Jean (the site for the British Field hospital during […]

Day 1 – The Waterloo Tour

Sunday was the first official day of Waterloo Uncovered 2017! After a long journey for many of our team members (many arriving en masse by mini van on Saturday evening), everyone settled in and finally got to meet each other properly: a merry mix of veterans, archaeologists, students, scholars, locals, detectorists, film makers and photographers. […]

Day 2 – WU Firsts! La Ferme de Mont-Saint-Jean & the new WU Podcast!

The Day 1 Dig Diary stated that the 2017 field season is a year of firsts, and not least as this year we are digging at not one, but two sites on the Waterloo battlefield. Service Public de Wallonie (‘SPW’ – the local authority) are building a new roundabout just south of Mont St. John Farm (2km northeast […]

Day 3 – Different perspectives

Yesterday on our first day of digging, the first trenches to be opened were in the “Killing Zone”. The Killing Zone has been a key area of investigation for the past three years, as the site that reportedly saw the most intense fighting in the battle for Hougoumont. An open area of land in front […]

Day 4 – Rain and Readings

Today’s dig started off rainy and overcast. This, however, did not dampen morale, and everyone was excited to get digging. Tents were set up over the trenches in the courtyard and the garden, which let us continue the excavations in these places. Luckily, it did not rain the entire day and we were able to […]

Day 5 – Watermooo Uncovered

After the rain we had yesterday, today was incredibly sunny. Luckily, the tents provide some shade, but Cornelius’ “don’t forget to wear sunscreen and drink enough water” is still the slogan of this dig. We also had some interesting guests who were very interested in one of our new trenches, namely some bovine archaeologists (Thank […]

Day 6 – Today, we fight

With the prospect of a relaxing weekend, everyone was eager to start digging today. The digging continued in all of the trenches, as well as in the new trench in the orchard and at Mont Saint Jean.   At the end of the day, everyone went on a tour of the excavations. Everyone got to […]

Day 7 – Winter is coming

After a well-deserved weekend in which we either explored what Belgium had to offer or the poolside of the hotel, the group was ready to get back to work. Although the weather was drab and cold, we have made some great progress, and everyone was excited to be back on site. However, people were also […]

Day 8 – Waterloo Uncovered makes the news

Water and sun cream was our main priority today. After a dreary Monday, Tuesday was sunny and hot. While the sun was much appreciated, many have said that they in fact preferred the rain. Despite the heat, we have recovered some interesting objects in interesting locations. The most interesting find was at Mont Saint Jean. […]

Day 9 – A Coldstream Guard’s Button

The Weird-Wobbly-Wednesday-Dip has kicked in full force. People were tired, and when we arrived on site it was hot and muggy, which did not help the situation in any way. The temperature dropped considerably after the thunderstorm which arrived around midday, which was much appreciated. The archaeology has not slowed down in any way though, […]

Day 10 – Touring the trenches

The project is starting to come to a close. After a week and a half of digging and excavation, the teams are now in the process of recording the finds, finalising the drawings and graphs and cleaning out the trench for final photographing. We only had a short day, with a tour of the trenches […]

Day 11 – The Last Day

It was a weird feeling coming on site this morning. The team was ready to get back to work, but at the same time, we all knew that this would be our last day at Hougoumont. The tasks for the day was to backfill all the trenches, finalise all the drawings and paperwork, and clean […]