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11: Legal Considerations and CRM

  • Page ID
    112431
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    Learning Objectives

    • Explain cultural heritage
    • Characterize the legal protections for cultural heritage sites and the limitations of those protections
    • Describe the role of archaeological codes of ethics
    • Articulate how bias can enter archaeological interpretations and its effects
    • Explain the importance of Cultural Resource Management (CRM)
    • Describe the phases of investigation in CRM archaeology.

    • 11.1: Legal and Ethical Considerations
      In many countries, warfare destroys archaeological artifacts and current cultural sites by damaging and destroying important monuments as well as leaving museums and archaeological sites unprotected from looters. Generally, people agree that national and regional governments have a responsibility to protect cultural heritage sites and artifacts from being destroyed.
    • 11.2: Cultural Resource Management
      As a result of land development, intensive agriculture, deforestation, and tourism among others, we are continually destroying archaeological remains and cultural heritage. In North America, as in other countries around the world, the dominant form of archaeological investigations are a result of Cultural Resource Management (CRM) projects. This type of archaeology is important in the effort to protect the remaining archaeological sites that are quickly vanishing.
    • 11.3: Chapter Eleven Review
      Review important concepts and definitions of key terms.

    Image: Road Construction. (2020). By Mir koks under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.


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