ARCHAEOLOGY AND CONFLICT: DEBATE CONTINUED
A plenary session at the 10th World Archaeological Congress, Darwin 22-28 June 2025
This Plenary brings WAC’s involvement in the issue of the protection of archaeological heritage in armed conflict up-to-date, with a focus on the obstacles faced by archaeologists attempting to work in this area.
The Plenary will reflect the continuation of armed conflicts of different scale globally and attempt to conceptualise the relationship between archaeology and conflict, in the context of many if not all current conflicts being fought within a global framework, as opposed, perhaps, to the more nationally based conflicts of the 1980s and 1990s. The plenary will include two strands:
· first hand reports from a number of current armed conflicts allowing for a comparison of the real-world issues faced,
· the opportunity for wide-ranging discussion of continuing ethical (i.e., should archaeologists engage with the military at all in trying to protect the archaeological heritage e.g., over and above the protection of civilians) and practical (e.g., how to best protect the archaeological heritage and convince those we might want to work with, including the military and humanitarians, to develop a mutual understanding about the importance of this work).
Conflict of various types has been at the forefront of the WAC since it was established as an organisation following the first Congress in 1986 in Southampton, UK. That Congress was mired in controversy and conflict following the brutal suppression of the majority of people in South Africa and whether archaeology should overtly acknowledge its social, educational, and political context and responsibilities.
The physical destruction of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya by Hindu fundamentalists in 1992, and the associated deaths of nearly 2,000, mainly Muslim, Indians, dominated discussions at what was, as a result, a chaotic WAC-3 (New Delhi, 1994). The controversy led to the 1998 Inter-Congress ‘Destruction and Conservation of Cultural Property’ and the 2001 One World Archaeology volume of the same name (eds Layton, Thomas, and Stone). These included contributions detailing the deliberate destruction and attempted protection of cultural heritage in the fighting in the Balkans in the 1990s.
The abject failure to protect cultural property by the Coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003, and the following looting and deliberate targeting of cultural heritage caused uproar at WAC-5 (Washington, USA, 2003) as the Congress divided over whether archaeologists should work with the military to try to protect cultural property or whether their efforts provided spurious academic legitimacy to an illegal war. Since WAC-5 issues surrounding the protection of cultural property have featured at every WAC Congress. WAC-7 provided debates that led to the establishment of the NGO Heritage for Peace and later Congresses heard reports of the development of more systematic destruction by extremist groups and the development of a more active Blue Shield organisation.
Arwa Badran, Arek Marciniak, Peter G Stone
28 January 2025