The Freedom of Archaeological Research: Archaeological Heritage Protection and Civil Rights in Austria (and Beyond)

Archaeologists like to think that heritage protection laws serve the purpose of protecting all archaeology from damage. Thus, provisions like that of §11 (1) Austrian Denkmalschutzgesetz or Art. 3 i-ii of the Valletta Convention are interpreted as a blanket ban on archaeological fieldwork ‘unauthorized’ by national heritage agencies, and a general prohibition against archaeological field research by non-professionals. The Austrian National Heritage Agency, the Bundesdenkmalamt, interprets the Austrian law in this way. Using the Austrian example as a case study, this paper demonstrates that this interpretation must be wrong, since, if it were true, it would revoke a fundamental civil right enshrined both in the Austrian constitution and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union: the unconditional freedom of research, which applies to archaeological field research as to any other kind of academic research, and extends equally to every citizen.     

Thirty Years of Criticism of the Works of Florencio Sánchez

Through John Kronik's insights on self-conscious art, in particular his essay "Galdosian Reflections: Feijóo and the Fabrication of Fortunata," this article examines the self-conscious dimension of contemporary neorealist texts, in particular the use and role of the video game in the novel Ático, by Gabi Martínez.     

Urbanity, Sociability, and Commercial Exchange in the Barbados Sugar Trade: A Comparative Colonial Archaeological Perspective on Bridgetown, Barbados in the Seventeenth Century

In one of the most notable studies on the political economy of the modern Atlantic world, Sidney W. Mintz (Mintz, Sweetness and power: the place of sugar in modern history. Penguin, London, 1985) explored the rise of sugar production in the Caribbean and emphasized Barbados’ role in shaping the trajectory of the sugar industry in the seventeenth century. Yet, while sugar was certainly the defining commodity of the Barbadian economy, not all of the island’s citizens were directly involved in the sugar production process. Residents of the island’s main urban center, Bridgetown, lived at the interface between producers of sugar on rural estates in Barbados and consumers of sugar in metropolitan Europe. They were the glue that held the emerging Atlantic sugar business together and their efforts to develop a functioning urban infrastructure in Barbados helped fuel the trade in this valuable commodity.     

Review

Nature and Nurture: Aboriginal child-rearing in north-central Arnhem Land. By Annette Hamilton. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1981. Pp. 183, Appendix, Index. Price $9.95 (paper bound).     

Imperial Britain at War

An Imperial State at War: Britain from 1689 to 1815. Edited by Lawrence Stone (London: Routledge, 1994), 374 pp., £40.00 cloth.