Does environmental archaeology need an ethical promise?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Does environmental archaeology need an ethical promise?

AU - Riede, Felix

AU - Andersen, Per

AU - Price, Neil

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Environmental catastrophes represent profound challenges faced by societies today. Numerous scholars in the climate sciences and the humanities have argued for a greater ethical engagement with these pressing issues. At the same time, several disciplines concerned with hazards are moving towards formalized ethical codes or promises that not only guide the dissemination of data but oblige scientists to relate to fundamentally political issues. This article couples a survey of the recent environmental ethics literature with two case studies of how past natural hazards have affected vulnerable societies in Europe?s prehistory. We ask whether cases of past calamities and their societal effects should play a greater role in public debates and whether archaeologists working with past environmental hazards should be more outspoken in their ethical considerations. We offer no firm answers, but suggest that archaeologists engage with debates in human?environment relations at this interface between politics, public affairs and science.

AB - Environmental catastrophes represent profound challenges faced by societies today. Numerous scholars in the climate sciences and the humanities have argued for a greater ethical engagement with these pressing issues. At the same time, several disciplines concerned with hazards are moving towards formalized ethical codes or promises that not only guide the dissemination of data but oblige scientists to relate to fundamentally political issues. This article couples a survey of the recent environmental ethics literature with two case studies of how past natural hazards have affected vulnerable societies in Europe?s prehistory. We ask whether cases of past calamities and their societal effects should play a greater role in public debates and whether archaeologists working with past environmental hazards should be more outspoken in their ethical considerations. We offer no firm answers, but suggest that archaeologists engage with debates in human?environment relations at this interface between politics, public affairs and science.

U2 - 10.1080/00438243.2016.1192483

DO - 10.1080/00438243.2016.1192483

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0043-8243

VL - 48

SP - 466

EP - 481

JO - World Archaeology

JF - World Archaeology

IS - 4

ER -