Archaeology is unlike any other science. An archaeologist has only one opportunity to excavate a site correctly because excavation is inherently destructive. Once a layer of soil is removed, a feature excavated, or an artifact displaced from its original context, that information can never be replaced. The archaeological record is nonrenewable. Because of this, archaeology has developed some of the strongest ethical standards of any scientific discipline, emphasizing stewardship, collaboration, documentation, and professional respect.

Those standards make it ethically troubling when one archaeologist or a public agency authorizes the excavation of a site that has already been investigated by another archaeologist without first consulting the original investigator, particularly when the site remains part of an active research project. Such actions do more than disregard years of scholarship. They threaten the continuity of scientific research, undermine professional trust, and ultimately diminish the public value of the archaeological record.This issue has become particularly relevant in the Albany Pine Bush, where the Albany Pine Bush Commission has allowed The University at Albany archaeologists to excavate a historic tavern site that had previously been excavated and continues to be part of an ongoing research project. Whatever one’s opinion of the project itself, the broader ethical question deserves public discussion: Should one archaeologist excavate another archaeologist’s active research site without consultation?

The answer should be no.

Professional archaeology is governed not only by laws but by ethical principles. The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) adopted its Principles of Archaeological Ethics in 1996, and these principles have become the foundation for ethical practice throughout North America. The first principle is Stewardship, which declares that archaeologists serve as caretakers of the archaeological record on behalf of all people, not merely........

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