The World Archaeological Congress' 2nd Indigenous Intercongress, The Uses and Abuses of Archaeology for Indigenous Peoples, convened between November 8 and 12, 2005, at the University of Auckland and Waipapa Marae to examine issues relating to and concerned with indigenous peoples and their past. The organization committee included coconvenors Dr. Joe Watkins, Dr. Caroline Phillips, and Dr. Des Kahotea along with Academic Program Chair Stephanie Ford and Conference Administrator Margaret Rika-Heke. The first Intercongress, on Archaeological Ethics and the Treatment of the Dead, was held in 1989 in Vermillion, South Dakota, and focused on the topics of reburial and repatriation. The Vermillion Accord on the treatment of human remains, an outgrowth of that conference, forms one of the primary ethics documents for the World Archaeological Congress, by which members of the WAC agree to abide in conjunction with the WAC First Code of Ethics.

This intercongress provided a forum for examining a range of issues concerned with indigenous peoples and their past. The WAC is based on and campaigns for the need to recognize the historical and social role and the political context of archaeological inquiry and the need to make archaeological studies relevant to the wider community. The WAC's First Code of Ethics acknowledges the obligations of professionals in archaeology and heritage management to indigenous peoples. This involves the recognition of the importance of indigenous cultural heritage (sites, places, objects, artifacts, human remains, etc.) to indigenous people and also that this heritage rightfully belongs to them as their cultural property. Archaeologists, based on their credentials as scientists, have consistently been considered to be the authorities when it comes to decisions concerning the archaeological record. Their training in the scientific method, generally accepted as the basis for scientific research, supposedly requires that they consider information objectively. Additionally, because of society's emphasis on formal education and the role of scientists within the society of which they are a part, archaeologists are generally seen to possess knowledge that is somehow beyond the understanding of nonscientists; they are the keepers of that knowledge. As the recognized authority on the information held in archaeological sites, archaeologists have substantial power over the culture history of indigenous peoples. Because of this power differential, archaeologists often are perceived to be arrogant and insensitive by native people, while at the same time native people often are perceived to be antagonistic toward archaeological research.

Over the course of 5 full days, 173 registrants from across New Zealand and throughout the world participated in discussions drawn from presentations by 64 speakers, each active in the archaeological or heritage management community. These discussions explored the core topic concerning how archaeology can be used in its various facets to understand and present the past. Although archaeology is certainly not the only way of gaining an understanding of the past and its cultures, it is recognized more widely as a means of making general statements about human cultural adaptations over a wide expanse of time. However, the objective presentation of the past that is not at issue in the discussions that came out of this Intercongress; rather, the political aspects encountered today as indigenous populations find ways to use the archaeological data found within heritage places. Every archaeological investigation has useful information as well as information that, when abused, can be detrimental to indigenous populations.

Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith opened the Intercongress with a sobering examination of the nature of research from an indigenous perspective, noting that indigenous people must reach a middle ground concerning their roles as researchers while at the same time being indigenous people. She spoke of decolonizing the methodologies used in social science research in terms of deconstruction and construction, critique and process, and theory and method.

Sessions included topics on identification of indigenous, indigenous paths to archaeology, representation of indigenous peoples in archaeological theory, museums and their relationships with indigenous groups, contemporary issues in indigenous archaeology, intellectual-cultural property rights, and of course repatriation. A more complete listing can be found on the WAC web site at 〈http://www.worldarchaeologicalcongress.org/site/confer_nz2005.php〉.

Outcomes of the Intercongress included resolutions on Cultural and Intellectual Heritage, The Tamaki Makau-rau Accord on the Display of Human Remains and Sacred Objects, and on the support for regional indigenous conferences, as well as statements on various aspects of repatriation of human remains and sacred objects. In addition, two volumes derived from the presentations are planned, to be published by Left Coast Press.