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Ethics of Commercial Archaeology: Brazil

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Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology
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Introduction

There are two distinct speeches in Brazilian archaeology, an official discourse and an unofficial discourse. In the official discourse, spoken at conferences, in publications, and in classrooms, everything is fine. There are jobs for everyone, archaeological work is being performed, and cultural heritage is protected. Unofficial discourse, comprised of informal conversations that take place in the corridors of Congress, outside the classroom, during the fieldwork, says just the opposite, i.e., that chaos is installed in Brazilian archaeology. The chaos in this case has a name, Contract Archaeology or Commercial Archaeology.

As happened in many other countries, the growth of commercial archaeology in Brazil also resulted in a change in archaeological practice; the difference is that in the Brazilian case, the change was radical. The numbers are impressive. It is estimated that commercial archaeology in Brazil represents about 90 % of all archaeology practiced in the...

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Correspondence to José Roberto Pellini .

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Pellini, J.R. (2014). Ethics of Commercial Archaeology: Brazil. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_124

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_124

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

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