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At its 2022 Annual Meeting
in Budapest, the EAA is launching its updated Code and Principles as
well as four new Advisory Committees: Scientific; Heritage; Public Benefits;
and Education, Training and Professional Development. In
joining our EAA community, Individual and Corporate Members, who work in
extremely diverse and interdisciplinary ways across many national contexts,
agree to adhere to our Codes. Our Code and Principles seek to inspire and nurture good practice while
promoting the greater integration of archaeological practice with society and
its needs. The
expansion of the former Code (1997,
revised 2009) is therefore a barometer of topical challenges,
opportunities and wider social developments that affect archaeologists across
many sectors, and clearly demonstrates the Association’s readiness to react
accordingly. These sectors include higher education and research, heritage
management, museums and archives, and commercial contract archaeology.
The new Advisory Committees,
along with the revived and reshaped statutory Appeals and Anti-Harassment
Committee, are responsible for a range of tasks, some of which correspond
closely to the new areas encompassed by the revised Code. These Committees are therefore where many of these topics
will be addressed by the EAA as we move forward.
This statement acknowledges
the ethical and societal issues identified in the Code and Principles and, in a cross-cutting exercise, maps their
relationship to these
Advisory Committees. It does so through the lens of the heritage cycle (Figure
1). This is a cycle in which an understanding of value, iteratively fed and
shaped by knowledge and understanding, can be used to inform decisions about
what to secure for the future, and how such resources can be engaged for wider
public benefit, generating a desire to know more about the resource in
question. This is an approach applied in the Medieval Europe Research Committee
Manifesto: https://mercmanifesto.org/ (MERC is an EAA Community).
Figure 1 Heritage cycle. Graphic by Chris Unwin
The heritage cycle underpins
much of Western heritage management practice and therefore provides a useful
framework for thinking about how we practice in such a way that we are aware
not just of the scientific benefits of our work but also the differences it
makes, or could make, for society. It also enables us to articulate what we are
doing in ways that might explicitly embrace understanding social value or
public benefits (EAA Strategic Plan 2021-2024 Goal 3). The Advisory Committee remits ‘map’ to this model as
will be evident from what follows, which also introduces key themes emerging
from the Code and Principles that
relate to wider society. Ongoing reflection about how we practise will help us
to achieve the cycle of optimum scientific, social and cultural benefits,
including contributing to the wellbeing of present and future people and
places.
Scientific
Committee: how we advance knowledge and understanding of the
past, in ways that:
●
practise
respect for human remains
●
avoid racist or discriminatory methods/approaches and interpretations
●
are aware of the concerns and interests of indigenous communities and acknowledge diversity in
interpretation of the past and what it tells us
●
recognise that knowledge of archaeological context is critical to
understanding artefacts, their meaning and significance.
Heritage Committee: how we assign meanings and values
(including social value) to that knowledge and put this into practice to secure
heritage for the future, in ways that:
● respect individual human rights, past and present and recognise
the multiplicity and diversity of stakeholders, ensuring respect for
stakeholder perspectives, including for contested objects and by understanding
who ‘owns’ objects.
● are accountable, transparent and ensure ethical practice in terms
of expert evaluation, including where there is the risk of conflicts of
interest
● engage constructively with debates about difficult issues, including
repatriation of objects and restitution
●
can inform future and current evidence-based policy, for example in
relation to climate change.
Public Benefits Committee: how we enable more people and places to benefit from
archaeology, informed by understanding of its significance, impact and
potential, and of how this drives the desire to know more, including through
scientific research, in ways that:
● respectfully, helpfully and constructively share and exchange
archaeological knowledge and opportunities with wider publics through
appropriately diverse activities, developed collaboratively where possible, and
recognising the interests of people and places
●
advance knowledge and understanding of the range of ways in which
archaeology benefits people and places, and the processes and mechanisms which
underpin this, including through interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral research
and practice
● share data, information and insights demonstrating the benefits of
archaeology, responsibly and respectfully, so the value of archaeology can be
recognised.
● are alert and open to new
opportunities to achieve, capture and understand public benefit.
Education, Training and Professional Development
Committee: how we train
and support professional development of archaeologists at all stages of their
career to do the above (so, applies across the whole heritage cycle), in ways
that:
●
ensure access to equal opportunities to learn, train, upskill,
diversify and network are equitably available to all regardless of career
stage, identity or other factors
●
fairly acknowledge the contribution of colleagues regardless of
their employment status
● ensure training remains at the cutting edge as new approaches,
technologies, ideas and opportunities emerge
● support and deliver outcomes that help make the case for
archaeology in the higher education, school and youth participation sectors.
Appeal and Anti-Harassment Committee: how in all the above we ensure
a safe work environment, equality and inclusion in creating knowledge and
understanding, in ways that:
●
prohibit all forms of harassment, assault, bullying, intimidation
and discrimination
●
develop and implement adequate mechanisms to prevent and report
any discrimination, harassment, assault, bullying and intimidation for EAA events, not least the Annual Meetings
●
encourage the reporting of proven discrimination, harassment,
assault, bullying and intimidation that victims suffer to their home
institution or organisation
●
are alert and responsive to new and emerging threats to the
wellbeing of all working or volunteering in archaeology.