Victor A. Shnirelman

Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology RAS, Moscow, Russia

E-mail: shnirv@mail.ru

Keywords: archaeology, historical heritage, ethics, indigenous peoples, pseudoscience.

With the growing popularity of “policy for history” archaeological materials and historical heritage are increasingly becoming an essential political resource. At present, it is not only the state that is interested in it but also a variety of community and religious groups, political movements, indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities, and commercial enterprises. Under such conditions, archaeology has intruded into the sphere of politics unexpectedly for itself so it has to deal with topical problems that require discussion of important ethical issues. This article considers such issues in the context of the relationships of archaeologists with indigenous peoples, approaches to regions’ history, the activities of business structures, primarily in the field of tourism, a mass of pseudoscientific concepts, response to mass migration, as well as heated ethnic conflicts. The author discusses some approaches to solving such pressing problems.

DOI: 10.31857/S086960630010955-9