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200 Years Later, Archaeologists Are Rewriting the Battle of Waterloo

Archaeologists from the UK and Belgium are using electromagnetic induction sensors, magnetometers, and GIS to analyze the battle’s very first killing grounds.
The Hougoumont site with pinpoints for notable survey objects. Image: L - P : Archaeology

Two hundred years after British, Dutch and Prussian allies defeated Napoleon Bonaparte's French army at the Battle of Waterloo, archaeologists from the UK and Belgium are using electromagnetic induction sensors, magnetometers, and GIS to analyze the battle's very first killing grounds.

The Battle of Waterloo was one of the most significant battles in modern European history. It brought an end to two and a half decades of war between France and the rest of Europe, led to the restoration of the monarchy in France, and ushered in a long period of collaboration between the European powers. It would be half a century before a major conflict, the Crimean War, broke out in Europe again.

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Despite this, there has never been a large scale, systematic archaeological excavation of the Waterloo battlefield, using sophisticated technology. Until this April, that is, when archaeologists working under the banner of Waterloo Uncovered, a scheme devised by two current Coldstream Guards officers, arrived in Belgium.

Waterloo Uncovered is a charitable partnership between Operation Nightingale, a program that helps injured former soldiers rehabilitate by involving them in archaeological works; le Service de l'archéologie-Direction extérieure du Brabant wallon; the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology; Glasgow University; and the Human Identification Centre, Dundee University.

Overhead view of the Hougoumont site. Image: L - P : Archaeology and Waterloo Uncovered

The battle took place on June 18th 1815, and started when the French launched an offensive against the British position at Hougoumont, a cluster of farm buildings situated a few miles from Brussels. The Duke of Wellington, the Allied commander, asked the Coldstream Guards to defend the farmhouse. It would turn out to be the Guards' finest hour.

Hougoumont still stands today, and was restored a couple of years ago in time for Waterloo's 200th anniversary. Much of the surrounding landscape has changed from how it looked in 1815, though. To uncover the battlefield's hidden secrets, experts in soil sensing from Ghent University, Belgium, used mobile multi-receiver electromagnetic induction (EMI) sensors and magnetometers to survey the landscape during initial survey work in April.

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These sensors send electromagnetic signals into the ground, revealing the subsoil's electrical and magnetic properties. The experts used these readings to pinpoint areas of potential interest for archaeologists to investigate.

"Natural soil has a magnetic uniformity and man-made structures leave a scar," said Ghent University's Phillippe De Smedt. "Ditches, burnt areas, even the remains of brick walls. All this leaves a trace."

De Smedt added that the sensors also detected electrical variations in the subsoil that revealed minute traces of natural phenomena that were once part of the Waterloo battlefield. "We uncovered the precise location and layout of the old parterre gardens within Hougoumont," De Smedt said. The researchers also found a ditch in a nearby orchard. Both features are talked about in first-hand accounts of the battle.

The Ghent researchers also used magnetometers to locate smaller metallic objects on the surface—mainly musket balls and shrapnel. The magnetometry survey was conducted at a very fine resolution, using a 50 x 25 cm grid. "The magnetic variations obtained with an EMI sensor and those recorded by a magnetometer, overlap, but they also complement each other," De Smedt said. "Combining the two techniques gives us a fuller view on what's present beneath the surface."

Current data overlaid over historic battle maps. French positions are in blue, British and allied forces in red. Image: L - P : Archaeology and Waterloo Uncovered

The French Hougoumont offensive started as a diversionary attack by Napoleon. He wanted the allies to send in Allied reserves to protect their western flank, thus weakening the Allied position elsewhere on the battlefield. The French couldn't get inside, though, and, as the main battle raged nearby, the fight for Hougoumont ended up lasting the entire day. Both Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington thought that holding the farmhouse was the key to winning the entire battle. Just 4000 British troops successfully defended the farmhouse from over 15,000 French attackers. How could that have happened?

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To find out, experts from L - P: Archaeology, a commercial archaeology firm in the UK, took the Ghent data and put it into a geographic information system (GIS) designed to help give spatial reference to field data. They overlaid the archaeological finds onto old historical maps of the battle, then geo-referenced the old maps with surviving landmarks in the current environment to create one digital map.

"We found pistol balls there, too, which suggests fighting at close quarters."

L - P Archaeology has uploaded the map onto an online database that also shows the archaeological finds. They are also developing a prototype augmented reality app that will enable visitors to the Hougoumont battleground to see and hear the fighting.

On their digital map, the researchers pinpointed the precise 3D location of all the musket balls and other archaeological curiosities they found. The map told them something rather interesting about how the battle for Hougoumont might have unfolded.

Historical eyewitness reports recall that the French attacked through the woods to the south of the farmhouse. One of the old maps shows a pathway leading through the woods, and along the side of the main building, towards the gates. Findings suggest the French used that pathway to advance towards the farmhouse.

"We found most of the musket balls along that pathway, it looks like a lot of the fighting took place there," said Waterloo Uncovered director Mark Evans. "We found pistol balls there, too, which suggests fighting at close quarters."

This would have made sense. The woodland was dense, and it would have been difficult for soldiers to move freely, let alone for artillery units to move their cannons into position. But Evans said that these tactics actually made it easier for the British to defend Hougoumont. "Had the French soldiers spread out, advanced across the entire wood and attacked at a wide range of points simultaneously, it would have been almost impossible for the British to defend their position," he said.

But defend it they did. Later that day, after Prussian reinforcements arrived and the battle turned heavily against the French, Napoleon surrendered and Europe was finally at peace after almost a quarter of a century of fighting.

Evans hopes that future excavations across the entire Waterloo site will uncover more battlefield secrets, including mass graves of the tens of thousands of soldiers who died on the battlefield. "The burnt areas we've already found around Hougoumont could relate to mass graves," De Smedt said.