Archaeologists on Conservation: How Codes of Archaeological Ethics and Professional Standards Treat Conservation

Abstract

Object conservators work within a variety of contexts. Although they are guided by their own code of professional standards, their work is also affected by the codes and practices of the other professionals with whom they work. This article examines the attention given to conservation in the professional codes, standards, and guidelines of the three largest archaeological societies in the United States—the Archaeological Institute of America, the Society for American Archaeology, and the Society for Historical Archaeology—and of the Register of Professional Archaeologists, an organization devoted to the maintenance of professional standards in archaeology. It also discusses the treatment of conservation in guidelines developed by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and by the American Schools of Oriental Research, which sponsor American excavations in Greece and the N ear East. The purpose is to provide conservators with information on the attitudes toward conservation that are shared by the archaeologists with whom they collaborate, especially in the context of excavation.