A Methodological Framework for the Archaeology of Conflicts in the Southern Levant, and the Battle of Hattin (July 3–4, 1187)

This article presents a research framework for the Archaeology of Conflicts/Battlefield Archaeology. This work was motivated by the methodological challenge posed by the very attempt to study material evidence of events of short duration in the landscape. Such events occurred outside the boundaries of conventional archaeological sites, in the landscape, which is generally subject to more frequent changes. The theoretical model is presented through an examination of the Battle of Hattin, a decisive event that took place on July 3–4, 1187, within the days of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099–1291). This theoretical construct can be applied to the study of events related to different cultures and archaeological periods. In this paper, it is argued that the significance of short-durée historical events, such as battles, political assassinations, and even natural disasters, must be understood through the exploration of structural and circumstantial-cyclical categories by means of “total archaeology” fieldwork.