KU graduate on team making WWI discovery / LJWorld.com

Archive for Monday, September 15, 2008

By David Clouston - The Salina Journal

September 15, 2008

A long-ago casualty of World War I buried in battle helped make a former Salina resident's archaeological studies abroad memorable.

The body of an Australian soldier of the first World War was unearthed Aug. 6 by a team excavating German trenches near St. Yves in Wallonia, Belgium.

It was the first set of remains of a British imperial force soldier found on the site. The soldier was in full battle dress, with all of his well-preserved equipment, medical kit, weaponry and parts of his uniform intact. His shoulder and collar insignia identified him as an Australian.

"Prior to that, all the (remains found) were German," Brian Shottenkirk said.

Shottenkirk, 33, is studying for his doctorate in First World War Archeology at University College of London. He was a member of the team that discovered the unknown soldier's remains.

He spoke by phone from London.

Shottenkirk's grandparents, Lowell and Dorothy, live in Salina, and his parents lived there when Brian and his twin brother, Grant, were toddlers. The family moved to Kirksville, Mo., and then Overland Park.

Brian earned undergraduate degrees in anthropology and biology from Kansas University, and a master's degree in osteo archaeology - the forensic study of bones - from the University of Southampton, in the city of Southampton on the south coast of England.

"I've always been interested in archaeology. It's a good combination of history and artifact research," Shottenkirk said.

The area where the soldier was found was attacked by the Australian 3rd Division on the morning of June 7, 1917, as part of the battle of Messines. The solder was a battlefield casualty in full uniform, buried where he died, rather than in a grave behind the battle lines.

The excavation is part of a project to study the effectiveness of the training of the Australian 3rd Division.

Researchers are studying battles at the site through archaeological excavation of trenches where soldiers fought, aerial photography, mapping, geophysical surveys and other techniques.

Whoever the soldier was, the researchers are unsure how he died. There were no obvious wounds on the body, Shottenkirk said.

"It could have been as simple as his proximity to a shell burst," he said. "The way his body was, he was killed instantly and his body was covered by the debris."

Australian military authorities are undertaking forensic and historical research to see whether the soldier can be identified, he said.