Hutchings, Richard

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https://hdl.handle.net/10613/3198

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Mid-Holocene river development and south-central Pacific Northwest coast prehistory: Geoarchaeology of the Ferndale Site (45WH34), Nooksack River, Washington
(Western Washington University, 2004-11) Hutchings, Richard
Sediments, soils, mollusks and fish in archaeological context are used to deduce mid-Holocene delta positions and reconstruct the paleoenvironment of a southern Pacific Northwest coastline. Recent investigations on the upper Nooksack River delta in western Whatcom County, northwestern Washington State, provide evidence for a temporal delay in delta construction and a model for applying geological evidence to mid- to late- Holocene site location. Geoarchaeological and paleoecological data derived from the 6 mile (10 km) inland alluvial Ferndale archaeological site-complex, including the shell midden site 45W34, are used to test two models of Nooksack delta development in an effort to better explicate the complexities associated with human land use patterns in a dynamic coastal plain river valley.
"The miner's canary" what the maritime heritage crisis says about archaeology, cultural resource management, and global ecological breakdown
(University of British Columbia, 2014-08) Hutchings, Richard
This dissertation investigates the maritime heritage crisis as it exists on the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America, emphasizing the Salish Sea region of Washington State, USA, and British Columbia, Canada. Worldwide, maritime landscapes are undergoing unprecedented change resulting in physical, biological, and cultural problems of "wicked" proportions. To focus conversation, the maritime heritage crisis is defined here as heritage site loss resulting from amenity migration and sea level rise. Rapid, unsustainable population growth (coastal sprawl) and anthropogenic climate change (global warming) are key drivers of contemporary coastal change, thus, arguably, heritage destruction. In Northern America, the response to coastal change has been resource management, elevating the concepts of "resourcism" and "management" as central elements of coastal change discourse. In this dissertation, I examine the response of archaeology/cultural resource management (CRM) to coastal change. I survey coastal change threats and impacts, focusing on Indigenous maritime heritage landscapes because they are especially sensitive to coastal change and the primary context for Northern American archaeology/CRM. To assess heritage conservation and the success of CRM in the Pacific Northwest, I present a case study of the shíshálh (Sechelt) First Nation’s traditional territory in British Columbia’s amenity-rich Sunshine Coast. I discuss the shíshálh Nation’s heritage stewardship approach and detail coastal change impacts in three areas within the Nation’s territory. In addition to future sea level rise, the impact of amenity migration or "sea change" on Indigenous heritage is demonstrated to be significant. Indigenous maritime heritage landscapes are highly threatened, contested and politicized places, tied up in issues of nationalism, colonialism, sovereignty and, increasingly, cultural survival. By focusing on social power and domination, a critical heritage studies approach exposes resource management as a technology of government promoting and permitting the ideology of growth, development and progress. Archaeology/CRM is therefore implicated in both the destruction of Indigenous heritage landscapes and the psychosocial consequences of that destruction, and is thus part of the problem, not the solution. An example of the "miner’s canary," the shíshálh Coast study offers important lessons about heritage stewardship in the late modern era of consumer capitalism.
A response to The Midden's forum on media representation and cultural resource management in British Columbia
(Archaeological Society of British Columbia, 2011) Hutchings, Richard
A response article to The Midden's forum on media representation and cultural resource management in British Columbia, which appeared in volume 43, issue 2.
Arqueologia como capitalismo do desastre
(Sociedade de Arqueologia Brasileira, 2015) Hutchings, Richard; La Salle, Marina
Archaeology is a form of disaster capitalism, characterized by specialist managers whose function is the "clearance" of Indigenous heritage from the landscape, making way for economic development. When presented with this critique, archaeologists respond strongly and emotionally, denying and defending the commercial archaeology industry. Their anger emanates from and revolves around the assertion that archaeologists are not just complicit in but integral to the destruction of the very heritage they claim to protect. In what we believe is an act of philosophical and economic self-preservation, mainstream archaeologists actively "forget" the relationship between archaeology, violence and the global heritage crisis. Securely defended by its practitioners, archaeology therefore remains an imperial force grounded in the ideology of growth, development and progress.
Five thoughts on commercial archaeology
(Institute for Critical Heritage & Tourism, 2013-03) Hutchings, Richard; La Salle, Marina
Observations prompted by recent dialogue around commercial archaeology both locally and globally.

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