Additional Information

Available Through

AnnualReviews.org

Language

English

Notes

Abstract: From their beginnings, archaeology museums have reflected a complex and dynamic balance between the demands of developing, documenting, and preserving objects on the one hand and sharing knowledge, access, and control on the other. This balance has informed and inflected the ways that museums present the past, including both practical aspects of pedagogy and exhibition design as well as more critical and contested issues of authority, authenticity, and reflexivity in interpretation. Meeting the complex requirements of curation, deliberate collections growth, management, and conservation, as well as the need to respond to continuing challenges to the museum's right and title to hold various forms of cultural property, archaeological museums play an active role in both preserving and shaping the public's view of the past and reflect the prospects and perils of being at once a temple to the muses and a forum for sometimes contentious public discourse.

Additional tags: museums and ethics; public discourse; authenticity; authority; reflexivity; ethics of interpretation, curation, and education

Taxonomies

RPA Codes & Standards

• Appropriate Dissemination of Research
• Archaeologist's Responsibility to Colleagues, Employees, and Students
• Archaeologist's Responsibility to Employers and Clients
• Archaeologist's Responsibility to the Public
• Specimen and Research Record Storage

CIfA Codes

• Principle 2: Responsibility for the conservation of the historic environment
• Principle 3: Responsibility for acquiring and recording reliable information of the past in archaeological research
• Principle 5: Recognition of aspirations of employees, colleagues and helpers in all matters of employment

Keywords & Terms

• Adequate and Responsible Reporting, Publication, and Dissemination
• Conservation
• Impact on Communities - Local, Descendant, etc.
• Management of Cultural Resources, Heritage, History
• Museum, Collection, Curation and Display Standards
• Preservation of Archaeological Resources
• Professional Standards
• Promotion of Archaeological Research/Archaeology as Scientific Discipline
• Public Interest, Collaboration, Education, and Outreach
• Respect for and Responsibility to Affected Groups
• Standards of Data Collection, Recordation, Analysis
• Storage of Data, Specimens, and Records

Topics & Issues

• Conservation and Ethics
• Ethical Responsibilities of Archaeologists
• Interpreting the Past
• Museum and Display Ethics
• Public Engagement, Outreach, and Education
• Public Memory and Public Space