Archaeology, History and Heritage of WWII Karst Defenses in the Pacific

This book is an archaeological study of the cultures of conflict through an examination of caves and tunnels used during the Pacific War. Referred to here as “karst defenses,” WWII caves and tunnels can be found throughout the karst landscapes of the Pacific. Karst defenses have been hidden, literally by the jungle and figuratively by history, for over 70 years.Based on a study of karst defenses and their related artifacts and oral histories in Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, this book uses karst defenses to investigate the varied human experiences before, during and after the Pacific War. Historically, the book reveals new knowledge about the overall defense strategies used in the Pacific. Karst defenses were a central component of Pacific War defense and were constructed and used by civilians, the Japanese military and U.S. troops as early as 1942. Karst defenses also functioned as command posts, hospitals, shelters, storage units and combat positions.The book sheds light on the social aspects that influenced the construction and use of karst defenses, including the fragmented relationship between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Imperial Japanese Army, the social status of civilians under Japanese rule and the clandestine plans of the U.S. in Micronesia. The book also discusses the complex contemporary meanings of this dark, shared heritage.

Julie Mushynsky received her B.A. at the University of Regina and her M.A. and PhD at Flinders University in South Australia. Her dissertation was awarded the Flinders University Vice Chancellor’s Prize for Doctoral Thesis Excellence. She has conducted archaeological and anthropological work in Micronesia, Australia and in Canada, where she is currently a SSHRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Regina and a consulting archaeologist at CanNorth Environmental Services. She is a member of the Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation Review Board and part of the Saskatchewan Archaeological Society board of directors. Generally, her research interests include colonialism, conflict, cultural heritage management and community-based research. Her newest research project analyzes ethnographic collections from First Nations contexts accessioned by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and their ongoing significance to Indigenous peoples in Saskatchewan and beyond.