Unearthing Forgotten Values: Toward a Meaningful Archaeological Practice

Advocates for a new, ethical future for the field of archaeology.

About 90 percent of archaeological activity in North America is driven by private-sector development. In that process, archaeology is often used to undermine the interests of those whose material culture it allegedly seeks to preserve and interpret. Unearthing Forgotten Values explores the disrespectful and ultimately unethical nature of commercial archaeology, or cultural resource management, and proposes a praxis that puts Indigenous communities and their heritage first.

Based on lengthy experience working with and within Indigenous communities in British Columbia and around the world, Sean P. Connaughton discusses such thorny issues as the meaning of decolonization, Indigenous land rights and sovereignty, the commodification of heritage, and state support for projects that will exacerbate climate change. Weaving together real-life stories, fieldwork, scholarship, data, introspection, and Indigenous values, Unearthing Forgotten Values charts a practical course for change. Professional archaeology will be the better for it.

Sean P. Connaughton is the senior archaeologist and manager for Inlailawatash, a Tsleil-Waututh-owned heritage firm in North Vancouver, British Columbia. He is a Northwest Coast permit holder and a field director for the Northwest Coast and Subarctic/Boreal Forest culture areas. He has taught in the Department of Anthropology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University since 2010.