| IN THEIR REPORT “EMERGENCE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE FOOTHILLS
of the Zagros Mountains of Iran” (5 July, p. 65), S. Riehl et al.
describe the advent of agriculture and domestication of wild plants
in the Zagros Mountains, Iran. The authors write that the samples are
currently archived at the University of Tübingen, but we believe
that the site of conservation and archiving should be in Iran.
According to the First Code of Ethics, adopted by World Archaeological
Congress Codes of Ethics, archaeologists and anthropologists
agree to fulfill
their commitments to
the ethical principles
governing the study
of the human past (1).
Among these principles
is the importance
of indigenous ancestral human remains to native peoples. Archaeologists
are required to acknowledge that the indigenous cultural heritage
rightfully belongs to the indigenous descendants of that heritage.
Human remains, artifacts, or objects of special cultural signifi cance of
indigenous peoples should not be removed from their indigenous discovery
site or country.
The archaeobotanical samples used in the Riehl et al. study refl ect
the thousands-year-old heritage of civilizations and should be conserved
and archived where they were found in order to respect the
rights of the indigenous descendants |