1.2: What is "Responsibility"?


"Responsible Artefact Hunting". The underlying message in the current partnership in the UK between heritage professionals and artefact hunters is that when it is done responsibly, the latter can provide useful information for archaeologists while avoiding damage to the archaeological record.

 This however raises the question of what "responsible artefact hunting" actually is.

What does 'responsible' mean in general? Dictionaries give definitions of responsibility  that read something like: 'a form of trustworthiness; the trait of being answerable to someone for something or being responsible for one's conduct' and the antonym irresponsibility (irresponsibleness): 'a form of untrustworthiness; the trait of lacking a sense of responsibility and not feeling accountable for your actions'.

It might be worth considering how the term operates in some of the common collocations: 'responsible dog ownership', 'responsible drivers', 'responsible parking', 'responsible tenants/ landlords', 'responsible parents', 'responsible drinking', 'responsible tourism', 'responsible journalism', 'responsible buyers', 'responsible host', 'environmentally responsible company/ products', 'responsible data protection', 'responsible netizens', 'responsible employers / employees' and so on. What is clear is that the term does not mean 'merely complying with the law' but involves other areas of 'being responsible', such as taking into account the rights, needs and interests of others, or being aware of the consequences of ones actions on others.

In the case of artefact hunting in Britain, there is a Code of Best Practice for Responsible [Artefact Hunting] in Britain and Wales, created in 2003 with the input of most of the major archaeological bodies and metal detecting associations and updated in 2017. It makes the point that 'if undertaken responsibly', artefact hunting by members of the public 'can make an important contribution to archaeological knowledge' and gives 'general voluntary guidance on accepted best practice'.

The text is arranged in four domains within which 'responsible artefact hunting' may be defined:
- before engaging in artefact hunting,
- while engaged in artefact hunting,
- reporting information obtained after artefact hunting and correctly curating material and information obtained,
- finding out more about archaeology and its aims and methods and artefact hunting.
These provisions define responsible behaviour in terms of following the law, taking care not to damage the landowner's property or the environment, being insured, preventing damage to the archaeological record and keeping everybody concerned informed about observations made and material obtained during each episode of artefact hunting. This code is further discussed below.


Tamara Kroftova comments:
"It seems that some people in Britain consider that "being responsible" is the equivalent of "not breaking the law". That's just silly. Being a responsible father and husband is much more than not breaking any laws on domestic violence. 

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