Archaeological Organizations Combine Resources to Develop New Ethics Database

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 4, 2018
Contact: Caren Madsen 301-943-8240

Archaeological Organizations Combine Resources to Develop New Ethics Database Register works with counterpart in the United Kingdom to offer international resource

BALTIMORE, MD – The Register of Professional Archaeologists (the Register) and the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA), based in the United Kingdom, released a new Archaeological Ethics Database today as an ongoing joint project. The database can be found at archaeologicalethics.org.

The goal of the database is to combine sources on archaeological ethics in a central, searchable place for students, researchers, and professional archaeologists. The archaeological ethics database includes over 500 sources relating to ethics in archaeology. The product was designed to be used internationally.

“Adoption of professional ethics, a code of conduct, research standards, and a process by which to enforce these make Registered Professional Archaeologists the most desirable to their clients and employers” said Register President Christopher D. Dore, PhD, RPA 10331. “We’re excited to be able to provide this tool to the archaeological community to proactively strengthen ethical behavior in professional practice.”

In 2017,CIfA and the Register signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote and strengthen professional ethics in archaeology and the Register assigned an Ethics Intern to begin work on the project. Patricia Markert, RPA 49570246 and a Ph.D. candidate from Binghamton University, served as the inaugural ethics intern. She developed the database and coded over 500 entries, including journal articles, books, blogs, online resources, and course descriptions.

Ms Markert worked with freelance web developer Angela Kristin VandenBroek, who is also a sociocultural anthropology PhD candidate at Binghamton University and visiting researcher at Stockholm University, to transfer the database to a searchable, online platform. The website includes a form for suggestions, questions, and comments. The database is an ongoing project and will be updated and expanded yearly by an Ethics Intern each summer.

The Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) is the leading professional body representing archaeologists working in the UK and overseas. The Institute has over 3,500 individual members, and about 80 registered organizations.

Established in 1998, the Register of Professional Archaeologists is a non-profit professional organization that serves as the international standards and credentialing body for archaeologists. At the end of 2017, there were 3,200 Registrants.