Goal

The ICOMOS International Polar Heritage Committee (IPHC) has identified the need for Antarctic Archaeology Guidelines to ensure that information on international best practice standards is available to Antarctic managers and researchers. 

The ICOMOS International Polar Heritage Committee Polar Archaeology Working Group held its first meeting (by Skype) 1 March 2017. The IPHC expert members who were able to attend represented both the northern and southern hemispheres.  

The PAWG is developing a set of principles Antarctic archaeology, with best-practice guidelines to subsequently be developed.  The importance of broad consultation to provide information and insights and to develop institutional engagement with the group’s activities is central to the group’s endeavours.

The process has seen a number of drafts circulated and commented upon, and a final draft was adopted by the ICOMOS Scientific Council and Advisory Committee in 2021, for submission to the ICOMOS Board in 2022.

The ICOMOS Antarctic Archaeology Guidelines were adopted at the ICOMOS General Assembly in Bangkok in October 2022.

The Polar Archaeology Network (PAN) has been contacted to keep them informed of the PAWG and its aims.