ABSTRACT The defence of West Australia Hill was a day-long encounter between 30 West Australians and 300-400 Boers during the South African War (1899-1902). An archaeological survey to test the applicability of Battlefield Patterning Analysis (PBA: as used on the Battle of Little Big Horn site, Montana, USA) was conducted to determine how the West Australians maintained tactical superiority throughout the encounter. The locations of fired cartridges, artillery artefacts and archival evidence showed that the successful all-day defence was due to good tactical positioning on West Australia Hill and fire discipline, aided by accurate British artillery. Dynamic Patterning, a component of PBA, was developed further by the use of two innovative methods of recording spent ammunition characteristics: off-centredness of firing pin indentations, and marks within firing pin indentations of the fired cartridges. The ammunition finds for both Australian and Boers soldiers demonstrated the application of BPA on 20th century battlefields.

中文翻译：

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“我们的射击远胜于他们”：南非战争期间西澳大利亚山防御的考古调查（1899-1902）

摘要 在南非战争（1899-1902 年）期间，西澳大利亚山的防御是 30 名西澳大利亚人和 300-400 名布尔人之间长达一天的遭遇。进行了一项考古调查以测试战场模式分析的适用性（PBA：用于美国蒙大拿州小大角战役遗址），以确定西澳大利亚人如何在整个遭遇战中保持战术优势。发射弹药筒、火炮文物和档案证据的位置表明，全天防御的成功归功于西澳大利亚山上的良好战术定位和火力纪律，以及精确的英国大炮的帮助。动态模式是 PBA 的一个组成部分，通过使用两种记录用过的弹药特性的创新方法得到了进一步发展：撞针凹痕的偏心，和已发射子弹的撞针凹痕内的标记。为澳大利亚和布尔人士兵发现的弹药证明了双酚 A 在 20 世纪战场上的应用。