Photos by Chris van Houts.
The Life of a Musket Ball
Our finds team are able to tell a lot about a musket ball from closely examining it. The size indicates the balls' origin; Allied musket balls are typically larger than their French counterparts. In addition, markings on the musket balls can indicate whether they were fired, or simply dropped, and what surface they may have hit. One impacted musket ball found at Plancenoit even contains plant fibres within its streaks - meaning it likely hit a wooden object! We're still in the process of examining the dozens of musket balls we've found so far this season, and there will surely be more discoveries to come.
Chelsea Pensioners
The Waterloo Uncovered team travelled all the way from London to Belgium to visit the battlefield - and we weren’t the only ones! This week we were joined by a group of Chelsea Pensioners, who lit up the battlefield in their iconic uniforms! The group met with out archaeologists, including Phil Harding, to learn more about our excavations, and several made their way up the Lion's Mound with some of our veterans for a birds eye view of the battlefield!
History Hit
To end our first week of excavation, we were joined by the team behind History Hit, including Dr James Rogers, who filmed out archaeologists and veterans on site as we explored the archaeology of the battlefield! They'll be plenty of content to come from them - including an exciting documentary and a podcast episode - and we'll be sure to update you when they're released!
Check out our video for Day Five of our 2022 Excavation, which shows off some of our best finds so far!
We wouldn't be able to conduct our groundbreaking archaeological excavation at Waterloo, or deliver our life-changing veteran support, without the generosity of our supporters. To help us continue our work and support those who have served their country when they need it the most, please consider making a donation.