From Archaeology of Ethics to Ethics of Archaeology

Abstract

The archaeology and the practice of archaeology are conceived of, in several fairly common ways, as “the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture” or as being “about obtaining, managing and manipulating data to inform understanding of the past, in order to make decisions in the present”. But we also read of how archaeology can be instrumental in our understanding of climate change or the migration of people and the response of “host countries”, for example in the context of socio-political unrest in the Middle East and the rise of populist nationalism in Europe. Moreover, we read of how it can be instrumental in our dealing with these concerns. “Any issue”, says a most recent analysis, “that is of multi-generational duration is amenable to archaeological analysis”. But isn’t this saying that archaeology is, really, about the ἀρχή of things, again, in the broad, original sense of the term… so not just their origins or governance, but the intersection of both, that which the Latins call their “principles”?