The Iron Curtain was seen as the divider between East and West in Cold War Europe. The term refers to a material reality but it is also a metaphor, a metaphor that has become so powerful that it tends to mark our historical understanding of the period.

Through the archaeological study of two areas that can be considered part of the former Iron Curtain, the Czech-Austrian border and the Italian-Slovenian border, this research investigates the relationship between the material and the metaphor of the Iron Curtain. As a study of the archaeology of the contemporary past this thesis brings forward methodological issues when dealing with many different sources as well as general reflections on our historical understanding.