Isandlwana battlefield maps

Hi everyone, I am new to this site so if I ask questions that have been covered before I apologize.

I have never been to the battlefield and unfortunately probably never will. I have of course seen maps showing the deployment of the British and Colonial troops so I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the course of the battle but each new book by some very knowledgable people seems to redefine the initial deployment. I was wondering if there are any maps that show the positions of the cairns covering covering the casualties? I am thinking that this might help me understand the flow of the fighting. I presume that there were not many casualties along the original line of deployment when the men were firing in a organized and disciplined way, and that most of the dead were found closer to the camp and along the line of flight, but that is an assumption.

Also are the cairns anonymous or is there any indication anywhere of who or at least which unit or company may have died there?

Are any of cairns dedicated to specific individuals, or were all of the remains unidentifiable, as I know it was several months before the British returned and buried the dead. Were any of the casualties shipped home by families or were they all left on the field?

Also she the archeologists worked the field recently were any maps created that showed the position of relics, cartridge cases, ammo box straps and screws etc?

Again apologies if I am asking questions that cause e browns amongst the veterans of this site.

Welcome Northbank66
Yes , this has been well covered in the past , the Cairns are basically anonymous , if you use the search box on the left hand side , just below the middle of the page , you may find your answers . Type in Alfred Boast , as he did one of the major
internments about 1881 from memory , I've also posted his Cairn and Grave locations previously . Hope this helps . As far as I'm aware Lt Anstey's body was returned to the uk , his being the only one . Durnford was reinterred at Fort Napier , there are also photo's of his grave on here also . There may well have been one or two Colonials also reinterred after their initial burial ? . Happy to be corrected .
Cheers 90th

Northbank
Hi and welcome to the forum.
There are a number of maps, as 90th says the Alfred Boast map, difficult to follow but original, is on the forum as is the Anstey map. The Anstey map is the map that annotates where various named officers were found. It doesn't mention the cairns they were buried in. There are a number of individual graves with headstones but they are Colonials. C/S Wolffs cairn is generally accepted to be the only one of the firing line, thats the further most NE cairn.
There was a survey done by UPE not to long ago and a digital map produced. Ive posted that on the forum as well. Most modern books, in particular Ian Knights or David Jacksons will give you a pretty detailed flow of the battle. If that doesn't work try this : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Always willing to help

Cheers

Possibly a good time to post this.
I mentioned some time ago that Project Africa are working on an animated 3d model of the battlefield. All the site digital measurement has now taken place and is being data sorted. The attached is a screen shot of the early days of construction. Its a very exhaustive process and is taking time but the final result as an interactive 3 dimentional animated model is going to be awesum.
Just a tit bit.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Cheers

breathlessly awaiting the finished version

When can we expect the end product, months, years ?

Cant say really, sometime this year.

springbok9 wrote:

Its a very exhaustive process and is taking time but the final result as an interactive 3 dimentional animated model is going to be awesum.
Just a tit bit.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I love it! Very promising indeed Springbok. This has the potential to clear up a lot of misunderstandings...or at least advance many of your alternate interpretations and theories!* "More power to you," as they used to say here.

- 6pdr

* and a corollary is that it might also debunk a lot of nonsense.

The ultimate end vision is to be able to build a platform that all the known activities and timelines can be incorporated in a 3D format. It will probably at that point show any weaknesses in the theories that abound.
Time will tell, we've waited 135 years whats a couple more.

Cheers

Thanks to all who responded like everyone else I look forward to the 3D model

springbok9 wrote:

Cant say really, sometime this year.

Thanks Springbok