20th March 2009, 01:57 PM
Quote:quoteoes anyone else thank that archaeology without due consideration for ethics and spirituality is akin to cultural shoplifting when the owners back is turned?
Errr... no. In my 25 years or more in archaelogy, I've met just a handfull of people who see it as just a job. Of this handful, only one or two couldn't give a sh*t about the archaeology they excavated.
Most (if not all) modern archaeologists undertake archaeological excavation and recording, do it ethically (if not, then we would be little better than grave robbers, tomb raiders and artefact collectors). We don't just dig things for fun and just because it is there. We'd rather have the stuff left in the ground, untouched and 'pure' (ie following PPG16's remit of preservation in situ). More often than not, we undertake excavation because there is (usually) a threat to the archaeology from more unthinking, more progressive and, unfortunately, more unscrupulous individuals / companies. Which would you rather have... us doing it (people who actually care about the past) or just letting it be trashed by those who don't really care as long as they get their (company / government) project built?
As for spirituality... I know a lot of archaeologists who are spiritual without being religious. People who care about their impact on the world - whether it be small-scale (ie how to dig a skeleton) or in the wider sphere of their impact on the environment as a whole. Some actually follow set religious doctrine and are practising in whatever thing that grabs their soul (be-it Christianity, Islam and Paganism). Some don't... I'm an atheist yet spiritual. I don't need a religion to steer me on the righteous path. I do what ever I think right by me and others (whether alive or dead). Don't think for one second that I don't care about what, or rather whoever, I dig up. I do it with grace, thoughfulness and rigourous technique.
It's in our blood to try and record systematically, ethically and without bias. As archaeologists, we don't commit cultural theft... we try to allieviate the damages of cultural selfishness, cultural naivety and "I just don't give a cullural sh*t!"
BTW... who exactly are the owners? The bods in the ground? They are dead... they don't act, think or feel anymore. If they do have a spirit hovering somewhere up in the ether, then yes I know they would rather be left where they were interred. But unfortunately, some people just don't give a toss about that... they want their supa-dooper MacD's built... right here, right now.
"I hope one day chickens will be able to cross the road without having their motives questioned" Anon