Welcome to the Archaeological Ethics Database. This database is an ongoing project by the Register of Professional Archaeologists (the Register) and the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA). The goal of the database is to bring together sources on archaeological ethics in a single place for the use of students, researchers, and professional archaeologists.

The archaeological ethics database includes over five hundred sources relating to ethics in archaeology. There are several ways to navigate the database:

Search Bar. You can use the search bar to query for particular words, names, or phrases.

You can also use several browse features, located along the left-hand side bar.

Browse by Type of Source. These pages include societies’ codes of ethics, journal articles, books and chapters, blogs and blog posts, courses and syllabi, and online resources.

Browse by Keywords and Terms. These have been developed from a survey of over 100 codes of ethics and allow you to browse based on key words and phrases that are common to archaeological ethics.

Browse by the RPA Code and Standards. This section allows you to browse sources based on the sections the Register’s Code of Conduct and Standards of Professional Behavior.

Browse by Topics and Issues. This section features over 80 common topics, issues, and themes that archaeologists face when dealing with ethical issues in their work.

Each entry includes a BibText feature, which allows you to export the bibliographic information for each source.

Please use our Contact Form for questions, recommendations, or issues regarding the database.