Ethics, Archaeology, and Civil Conflict: The Case of Spain

Abstract

The archaeology of modern conflict is almost always controversial and places archaeologists and anthropologists before unique ethical dilemmas. These dilemmas manifest themselves clearly in the relationship between researchers and a variety of social actors and stakeholders (victims, relatives, grassroots associations, military enthusiasts, authorities, etc.), each of them with their own political agendas and personal and collective interests, sometimes at variance with the scientific aims and deontological codes of archaeologists. In this chapter we will discuss the intricacies of doing archaeology of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and the subsequent dictatorship. We will consider research on both battlefields and mass graves and the particular ethical dilemmas presented by these contexts.