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ETHICAL CHALLENGE.
By
Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.
&
Abigail Ebenmosi Assa
Department of Archaeology
Ahmadu Bello University
Zaria.
Paper Presented at the
12th Biennial Conference of the West African Archaeological
Association (WAA), Jos. Nigeria.
26th October, 2009.
© Zacharys Anger Gundu & Abigail Ebenmosi
Assa. 2009.
OBJECTIVES.
• Discuss current trends in Nigerian archaeology.
• Explore basic ethical questions relevant in the
study of the Nigerian past.
• Argue the need for Nigerian archaeologists to
assert their voices in the study of the past and
champion the formal integration of ethics in
archaeological research.
• Identify good ethical practices that can be used
to benchmark archaeological training and
practice in Nigeria.
INTRODUCTION.
• Ethics in archaeology (and elsewhere) are a
series of contracts.
• They clarify what should be done, what is right
and justified in contrast to what is actually done.
(Wylie 2003).
• Archaeological ethics are predicated on three
accountabilities:
– Responsibility to the archaeological record.
– Responsibility to other stakeholders and
– Responsibility to other archaeologists.
INTRODUCTION (Cont) .
• The ethical question in archaeology is
underscored by other questions and
issues including:
– The ownership of the past.
– The conflicting perspectives about the past,
what it means and why it means different
things to different people.
– The scale at which commercial, industrial and
agricultural development is threatening
archaeological resources.
INTRODUCTION (Cont) .
• Other questions and issues include:
– Gender.
– Copyright and intellectual property.
– Fieldwork and teaching.
– Archaeological curation.
– Museum collections.
– The commodification of culture.
– War and conflict.
– Politics, identity and ideology.
INTRODUCTION (Cont) .
• Interest in the past is not just for reasons of
knowledge and scientific curiosity.
• It is also for reasons of:
– Religion and culture.
– Politics, identity and ideology.
– Money
• Tourism.
• Art auctions.
• Subsistence digging.
• Looting.
INTRODUCTION (Cont) .
– Prestige.
– Tax rebates.
• These and other reasons have produced
different stakeholders with competing and
conflicting claims on the archaeological record.
• This has made archaeological ethics complex,
conflicted and confusing.
• Archaeological ethics differ from place to place.
• They sometimes pitch archaeologists against
other stakeholders.
INTRODUCTION (Cont) .
• In many countries archaeological ethics are
structured and driven by archaeological bodies.
• Each code is limited by its focus (and enabling
antiquities laws).
• The American Anthropological Association
(AAA) has skewed its code to align with
ethnographic encounters.
• It is however silent on archaeological practice
(Pallock 2008).
INTRODUCTION (Cont) .