Thomas Richards

My interests are archaeological research, cultural resource management and heritage regulation, practiced primarily in Canada and Australia, but also Papua New Guinea, Britain and Guatemala. I studied archaeology and anthropology at Simon Fraser University, the University of Saskatchewan and Monash University, earning Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees from these institutions. My archaeological investigations typically integrate cultural heritage management, community archaeology and research-oriented approaches that are documented in numerous publications and reports. As well as being a Director of the Caution Bay Archaeology Project (Papua New Guinea) since 2009, I'm involved with several other research studies. In conjunction with the Gunditjmiring of southwest Victoria, Australia, I'm investigating evidence for socio-cultural complexity in the archaeological and ethnographic/ ethnohistoric records and modelling the appearance and nature of transegalitarian socio-cultural features. A long-term collaborative project with the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nations involves research on the emergence of sedentary villages on the Plateau of British Columbia. A new research project is focused on the early period of human occupation in Saskatchewan, Canada. Following my work in 2016-2017 with the Office of Environment and Heritage in Sydney, protecting and conserving the State significant built heritage and historic archaeological sites of New South Wales, Australia, I returned to Canada to take up the Senior Archaeologist position with the Government of Saskatchewan. Since 2021 I have been Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Heritage Conservation Branch. I am also Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in the Monash Indigenous Centre, Monash University, Melbourne and Research Associate in the Field of Archaeology with the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.