Unexploded ordnance (UXO)
Definition
Ammunition, shells, grenades, or bombs that were deployed but did not detonate, remaining live in the ground decades or centuries after the conflict. UXO is a primary safety hazard at all conflict excavations and must be identified and cleared before safe work can proceed.
Related terms
- CWGC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission)
- The international organisation, established by Royal Charter in 1917, responsible for commemorating Commonwealth military casualties of the First and Second World Wars....
- DNA kinship matching
- The process of identifying conflict casualties by comparing DNA extracted from skeletal remains to reference samples from known descendants, using STR profiles...
- Identity disc
- A metal disc worn around the neck by military personnel bearing name, number, unit, and religion. In WWI British forces used two-disc...
- Ordnance survey grid
- In the context of conflict archaeology, the systematic metal-detector transect grid laid out before excavation begins, used both to locate metallic finds...
- Wound track
- The path of tissue disruption left by a projectile passing through a body. Consists of a permanent cavity (crushed tissue) and a...
Explained in
- Battlefield and Conflict ArchaeologyAmmunition, shells, grenades, or bombs that were deployed but did not detonate, remaining live in the ground decades or centuries after the conflict. UXO is a...