Determining Whether Buried Munitions and Explosives Are Likely

1 Determining Whether Buried Munitions and Explosives Are Likely 

Any military installation is likely to contain a burial site of explosives or munitions. As noted previously, prior to 1944 burial of explosives was standard operating procedure. Habits die slowly, and it may have been decades more before that policy ended. The alternative of open detonation may not have been practicable in congested areas. Some common explosives such as dynamite may become dangerous when old, prompting disposal by burial. Munitions may become obsolete or too old to be 100% reliable in wartime and may similarly be disposed of by burial. 

Manuals containing pictures of common military explosives, fuses, and munitions suspected at a site should be studied careMly by the excavation crews. Also, some explosives, toxic smoke candles, and CAIS vials were canned and may look like any other garbage in a landfill. 

The facility s existence and use during and after wartime would again give important clues to the type and amount of ordnance disposal. A particular facility that was an arsenal during wartime and a war college during peacetime would have had to dispose of large quantities of ordnance. 

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