McIntyre-Tamwoy, Susan (2014) Ethics of commercial archaeology: Australia. In: Smith, Claire, (ed.) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY, USA, pp. 2474-2478.

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Abstract

[Extract] Having recently returned to full-time employment in commercial archaeology after a period of seven years in academia, the ethics of commercial archaeology is a subject at the forefront of my mind. A lot has been written about the ethical issues involved in indigenous heritage especially the scenario where non-indigenous practitioners and regulators are making decisions regarding the heritage of indigenous people (e.g., Langford 1983; Byrne 1993, 1996; Smith 2004). The ethical dilemmas are obvious in that context; however, while this entry touches on this area, it focusses more broadly on a range of ethical issues including those relevant to the often less-critiqued area of non-indigenous heritage also referred to as historical heritage or the heritage of settler societies. In such fields the archaeologist is often of the same cultural (or a derivative) background as the people who created the heritage. They therefore have a privileged role in studying the cultural remains as insiders, but to some extent since archaeologists are dealing with the heritage of past societies, are we not always at a fundamental level "outsiders"? This entry adopts a consciously provocative stance in highlighting many of the issues that face those working in commercial archaeology in Australia; while doing this I acknowledge that there are archaeologists in Australia who are conscious of many if not all of the issues raised and who attempt to address these in their daily practice, and I also acknowledge that we are all to a greater or lesser extent constrained by the economic and regulatory framework in which the industry operates.

Item ID:	39008
Item Type:	Book Chapter (Reference)
ISBN:	978-1-4419-0465-2
Related URLs:	Publisher
Date Deposited:	22 May 2015 05:40
FoR Codes:	21 HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 2101 Archaeology > 210101 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Archaeology @ 50% 21 HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 2101 Archaeology > 210104 Archaeology of Australia (excl Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) @ 50%
SEO Codes:	95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9504 Religion and Ethics > 950402 Business Ethics @ 100%
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