Archaeology and ethics

What is the background to the issues that archaeologists choose to raise and the ones they avoid? The aim of this study is to investigate the factors that determine what archaeologists do, and what they do not bother with.

From a deontological perspective, laws, regulations and guidelines of different types set a framework for how an archaeologist should act.

In this project, the underlying archaeological approaches to knowledge from a teleological perspective are reviewed. What cultural filters or perspectives from cognitive psychology lie behind the stereotypes that have been developed and have persisted since the incipient archaeological science of the 1800s? In what way do gender issues come into play? These questions are answered through the analysis of graphic illustrations of people from the 1800s until today. Are there ethical and political standpoints behind the illustrations?

The overall aim is to review and evaluate the ethical dimensions of the professional role of the archeologist.