Should I Post This? A Discussion on Digital Archaeology and Ethics

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Creating 3D models of cultural materials raises ethical concerns for how they are captured, stored, displayed, and utilized. Mainly, who is and who has the right to make these decisions?

Professional societies and associations have established principles and codes of ethics related to best practices, but language pertaining to 3D models or digitally rendered objects is often vague or absent. These gaps leave the ethical and equitable decisions surrounding these ‘digital artifacts’ up to individuals or institutions to determine. Making ethical decisions that do not center Indigenous or descendant communities when working with their collections is a disservice to those communities and the discipline by continuing to prioritize physical objects over human agency. With increasing access to and affordability of technology, questions pertaining to digital colonialism, data management, accessibility, language, and public engagement need to be addressed before normalizing the use of digital methodologies within the discipline. This paper aims to shine light on and discuss the ethics involved with the creation of digital artifacts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40135.0