Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at IIT

Archeology is a profession, and the privilege of professional practice requires professional morality and professional responsibility, as well as professional competence, on the part of each practitioner.

1. The Archeologist's Responsibility to the Public: 

1. An archeologist shall: 

1. Recognize a commitment to represent archeology and its resources results to the public in a responsible manner. 

2. Actively support conservation of the archeological resource base. 

3. Be sensitive to, and respect the legitimate concerns of groups whose culture histories are the subjects of archeological investigations. 

4. Avoid and discourage exaggerated, misleading, or unwarranted statements about archeological matters that might induce others to engage in unethical or illegal activity. 

5. Support and comply with the terms of the UNESCO Convention on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export, and transfer of ownership of cultural property, as adopted by the General Conference, 14 November 1970, Paris. 

6. An archeologist shall not: 

1. Engage in illegal or unethical conduct involving archeological matters or unknowingly permit the use of his/her name in support of any illegal or unethical activity involving archeological matters. 

2. Give a professional opinion, make a public report, or give legal testimony involving archeological matters without being as thoroughly informed as might reasonably expect. 

3. Engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation about archeological matters. 

4. Undertake any research that affects the archeological resource base for which he/she is not qualified. 

1. The Archeologists Responsibility to her/his Colleagues:

1. An archeologist shall: 

1. Give appropriate credit for work done by others. 

2. Stay informed and knowledgeable about developments in his/her field or fields of specialization. 

3. Accurately, and without undue delay, prepare and properly disseminate a description of research done on its results. 

4. Communicate and cooperate with colleagues having common professional interests. 

5. Give due respect to colleagues' interests in, and rights to, information about sites, areas, collections, or data where there is a mutual active or potentially active research concerns. 

6. Know and comply with all laws applicable to his/her archeological research, as well as with any relevant procedures promulgated by duty constituted professional organizations. 

7. Report knowledge of violations of this Code to proper authorities. 

2. An archeologist shall not: 

1. Falsely or maliciously attempt to injure the reputation of another archeologist. 

2. Commit plagiarism in oral or written communication 

3. Undertake research that affects the archeological resource base unless reasonably prompt, appropriate analysis and reporting can be expected. 

4. Refuse a reasonable request from a qualified colleague for research data. 

5. Submit a false or misleading application for accreditation by or membership in the Society of Professional Archeologists.

2. The Archeologists' Responsibility to Employers and Clients:

1. An archeologist shall: 

1. Respect the interests of his/her employer or client, so far as is consistent with the public welfare and this Code and Standards. 

2. Refuse to comply with any request or demand of an employer or client, which conflicts with the Code and Standards. 

3. Recommend to employers and clients the employment of other archeologists or others expert consultants upon encountering archeological problems beyond his/her competence. 

4. Exercise reasonable care to prevent his/her employees, colleagues, associates and others whose services are utilized by him/her from revealing or using confidential information. Confidential information means information of a non-archeological nature gained in the course of employment which the employer or the client so indicates or when such information becomes publicly known. 

2. An archeological shall not: 

1. Reveal confidential information unless required by the law. 

2. Use confidential information to the disadvantage of the employer or client. 

3. Use confidential information for the advantage of himself/herself or a third person, unless the client consents under full closure. 

4. Accept compensation or anything of value for recommending the employment of another archeologist or other person, unless such compensation or thing of value is fully disclose to the potential employer or client. 

5. Recommend or participate in any research that does not comply with the requirements of the Standards of Research Performance. 

The research archeologist has a responsibility to attempt to design and conduct projects that will add to our understanding of past cultures and/or that will develop better, methods, or techniques for interpreting the archeological record, while causing minimal attrition of the archeological resource base. In the conduct of a research project, the following minimum standards should be followed.

1. The archeologist has a responsibility to prepare adequately for any research project, whether or not in the field. The archeologist must: 

1. Assess the adequacy of her/his qualifications for the demands of the project, and minimize inadequacies by acquiring additional expertise, by bringing in associates with the needed qualifications, or by modifying the scope of the project. 

2. Inform himself/herself of relevant previous research. 

3. Develop a scientific plan of research which specifies the objectives of the project, takes into account previous relevant research, employs a suitable methodology, and provides for economical use of the resource base (whether such base consists of an excavation site or of specimens) consistent with the objectives of the project. 

4. Ensure the availability of adequate staff and support facilities to carry the project to completion, and of adequate curatorial facilities for specimen and records. 

5. Comply with all legal requirements, including, without limitation, obtaining all necessary governmental permits and necessary permission from landowners or other persons. 

6. Determine whether the project is likely to interfere with the program or projects of other scholars and if there is such likelihood, initiate negotiations to minimize such interference. 

2. In conducting research the archeologist must follow her/his scientific plan of research, except to the extent that unforeseen circumstances warrant its modification. 

3. Procedures for field survey or excavation must meet the following minimal standards: 

1. If specimens are collected, a system for identifying and recording their provenience must be maintained. 

2. Uncollected entities such as environmental or cultural features, depositional strata, and the like, must be fully and accurately recorded by appropriate means, and their location recorded. 

3. The methods employed in data collection must be fully and accurately described. Significant stratigraphic and/or associational relationships among artifacts, and other specimens, and cultural and environmental features must also be fully and accurately recorded. 

4. All records should be intelligible to other archeologists. If terms lacking commonly held referents are used, they should be clearly defined. 

5. Insofar as possible, the interests of other researchers should be considered. For example, upper levels of a site should be scientifically excavated and recorded whenever feasible, even if the focus of the project is on underlying levels. 

4. During accessioning, analysis and storage of specimens and records in the laboratory, the archeologist must take precautions to ensure that correlation between the specimens and the field records are maintained, so the province, contextual relationship and the like are not confused or obscured. 

5. Specimens and research records resulting from a project must be departed at an institution with permanent curatorial facilities. 

6. The archeologist has responsibility for appropriate dissemination of the results of his/her research to the appropriate constituencies with reasonable dispatch. 

1. Results viewed as significant contributions to substantive knowledge of the past or to the advancements in theory, method or technique should be disseminated to colleagues and other interested persons by appropriate means, such as publications, reports at professional meetings, or letters to colleagues. 

2. Requests from qualified colleagues for information on research results directly should be honored, if consistent with the researcher's prior rights to publication and with her/his other professional responsibilities. 

3. Failure to complete a full scholarly report within 10 years after completion of a field project shall be construed as a waiver of an archeologist's right to of primacy with respect to analysis and publications of the data. Upon expiration of such 10-year period, or at such earlier time as the archeologist shall determine not to publish the results, such data should be made fully accessible for analysis and publication of other archeologists. 

4. While contractual obligations in reporting must be respected, archeologists should not enter into a contract which prohibits the archeologist from including his/her opinion or conclusion in contractual reports, or from a continuing right to use the data for completion of the project. 

5. Archeologists have an obligation to accede to reasonable request for information from the news media. 

Archeological research involving collection of original field data and/or acquisition of specimens requires institutional facilities and support services for its successful conduct, and for permanent maintenance of the resulting collections and records. 

A full-scale archeological field project will require the following facilities and services, normally furnished by or through an institution: 

1. Office space and furniture. 

2. Laboratory space, furniture and equipment for analysis of specimens and data. 

3. Special facilities such as a dark room, drafting facilities, conservation laboratory, etc. 

4. Permanent allocation of space, facilities, and equipment for proper maintenance of collections and records, equivalent to that specified in the standards of the Association of Systematic Collections. 

5. Field equipment such as vehicles, surveying instruments, etc. 

6. A research library. 

7. Administrative and fiscal control services. 

8. A security system. 

9. Technical specialist such as photographers, curators, conservators, etc. 

10. Publication services. 

All the foregoing facilities and services must be adequate to the scope of the project. 

Not all the archeological research will require foregoing facilities and services, but a full-scale field project will. Likewise, all institutions engaging in archeological research will not necessarily require or be able to furnish all facilities and services from their own resources. Institutions lacking certain facilities or services should arrange for them through cooperative agreements with other institutions.