A unique project - a forensic investigation into the archaeology and history of Hawthorn Crater

This article was published by the Western Front Association to mark the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. It was created using Production House methods and applying documentary audio and narrative techniques to a new World War One archaeology site at Hawthorn Crater. This article co edited by Fiona Graham for Production House and published by the Western Front Association includes a podcast within the article. The interview was produced using audio alone at the location in France to allow the audience to visualise the site by using imagery with the crater as a clock face to understand the positioning on the battlefield on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. This podcast was developed for publication to mark the 104th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme when the crater blew at 7.20am on July 1st 2020, the imagined clock face of the circular crater is the perimeter of this audio journey with historian Colin Winn.
Interdisciplinary research with documentary makers, forensic scientists, historians and archaeologists has revealed and captured using film and audio how Hawthorn Ridge was used by the German front line as a defence and that there is in fact not just one crater.
The site is explored through collaborative work by the Hawthorn Ridge Crater Association with Staffordshire University supported by Erasmus, French communities and British partners.

The Western Front Association was formed in 1980 to maintain interest in the period 1914-1918, to "perpetuate the memory, courage and comradeship of those on all sides who served their countries in France and Flanders and their own countries during the Great War. It does not seek to glorify war and is non-political, its aims are 'Remembrance and Sharing the History of the Great War".