The ethics of public engagement in the archaeology of modern conflict

Abstract

There are strong principled and pragmatic reasons for modern conflict archaeologists to incorporate public engagement activities into their work. While there are often practical reasons for limiting public access, carefully planned engagement strategies can provide positive outcomes for archaeologists and affected communities, as well as pre-empting negative responses to the work. The task of the conflict archaeologist is to do justice to the people of the past, the people of the present, and the archaeology itself. Ethics should be a core component in public engagement, built into the planning and execution of engagement strategies from the start. An ethical approach to public engagement in modern conflict archaeology is grounded in an understanding of the contexts within which the work takes place; knowledge of the different stakeholders; and a wide range of public engagement skills and tools with which to reach out to as many of the different constituencies as possible.