An Overview of the Archeological Ethics Database

​The Register of Professional Archeologists brings together professional archeologists whose mission is to uphold the professional standards and ethics of the profession, as well as act as a resource for those in need of professional archeological services. In line with its mandate, the register has developed an Archeological Ethics Database, an ongoing collaboration between the Register of Professional Archaeologists and the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA). The aim of the database is to pool sources on archeological ethics into a single platform which can be accessed by professional archeologists, researchers, and students. The Archeological Ethics Database consists of over 500 sources associated with ethics in archeology which can be accessed in multiple ways.

For starters, the search bar feature allows system users to search for specific names, words, and phrases. In addition, the left-hand side bar offers users multiple browse features. Users can also browse by type of source to obtain codes of ethics for societies, blogs and blog posts, books and chapters, courses and syllabi, journal articles, and online resources.

There’s also an option to browse by keywords and terms, allowing users to browse using a set of keywords and phrases commonly associated with archeological ethics. The keywords and terms have been developed based on a survey of more than 100 codes of ethics. Other ways of accessing information from the database include browse by the RPA Code and Standards, which enables users to find sources based on the Register’s Code of Conduct and Standards of Professional Behavior.

Finally, users can browse by topics and issues, a section that contains over 80 popular topics, issues, and themes faced by archeologists when handling ethical issues in the course of their work. Each entry is accompanied by a BibText feature which enables users to export bibliographic information from every source.

Danielle Kurin

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