'Threats To Archaeology, its Importance, Values and Development'

Sessions

Ethics, Values and Sustainability

SESSION ABSTRACT

The role of ethics and values in education is of growing importance in today’s climate of greater social responsibility and awareness of the need for sustainability. This calls into question issues of ownership of the past, with moral issues arising surrounding many aspects of archaeology, including excavation, reporting, representation, display, access, and the reproduction of knowledge. The role of education is therefore crucial in raising awareness and ensuring the future sustainability of the discipline. Yet this is an area that can be challenging to teach, involving political and moral decisions and obligations, whilst allowing for students to independently reach their own conclusions and viewpoints.

A further key aspect to this topic is the issue of diversity, an area closely linked to the sustainability of our discipline, though encouraging involvement and engagement with the past from all sectors of society. Issues here concern diversity of the curriculum, as well as recruitment and retention of students. These areas need to be addressed to ensure the continuation of the discipline, and an understanding of the importance of studying the past within society – an area often under threat from legislation and cutbacks.

We invite papers that discuss the above issues and challenges, and those exploring these issues through their teaching and learning practices in archaeology and related disciplines, particularly with respect to Higher Education.

Papers and Presenters

The ethics and values of teaching diversity through the archaeological curriculum – Dr. Karina Croucher, University of Liverpool, and Wendelin Romer, University of York

Considering cultural perceptions of contested landscapes: a study of value and how it is assigned - Fay Stevens, University College London (UK) and University of Notre Dame (USA)

The Business of Archaeology: Ethics and Professional Associations - Kenneth Aitchison, Head of Professional Development, Institute of Field Archaeologists (UK) and Secretary, European Association of Archaeologists’ Committee on Professional Associations in Archaeology

Vedrovice: Understanding Extinct Life ways and International Collaboration - Alena Lukes, Paul Pettitt, Marek Zvelebil