Intellectual Property and Archaeology: Research Concerns and Considerations

As archaeology has matured as a discipline, a variety of challenges emerge about the purpose, methods, and products of the enterprise, including intellectual property (IP) concerns pertaining to the products of archaeological research and related heritage control issues. This chapter examines the complex nature of IP in the context of archaeology. The two central questions addressed are: (1) What constitutes IP in the context of archaeology?; and (2) Who has the right to interpret, benefit from, or control access to information and objects from the past, whether they represent one’s own heritage or, more often, someone else’s. These questions are explored through a series of broad themes, coupled with specific examples to illustrate some of the methodological challenges, their consequences, and how IP-related issues can be avoided or at least mitigated. An overarching consideration is the significant differences in how IP and intangible heritage are defined and distinguished in countries where the ancestral population relates to the dominant population today, as contrasted to those where the modern population has come from elsewhere.