HistoryGal
Indeed, Canada does not date from yesterday, of course. I am not talking about its geography and land mass but rather about its population. The researchers agreed that Canada likely had a population of Aboriginal or “Autochotone” people, now called First Nations probably around 10,000 years ago.
Yet, all this is questioned because Duncan McLaren a professor of Anthropology at the University of Victoria, British Columbia (West Coast of Canada) discovered a total of 29 footprints in sediments during excavation work conducted between 2014 to 2016. These footsteps were found on Calvert Island, northeast of Vancouver Island. They date, according to researchers to over 13,000 years and are likely those of two adults and one child, who all walked barefoot on clay soil.
Thus, at that time, that specific region was likely free of ice because the study and its findings show the presence of humans on the Pacific Coast and that the area was already ice-free long before the end of the last glacial period on the continent which dates back to 11,700 years.
Supporting this hypothesis has not been easy for researchers because this very rugged and densely forested part of Canada is only accessible by boat. To achieve this, the researchers concentrated their excavations in a tidal zone on Calvert Island where the water level was two to three meters lower than today at the end of the Ice Age.
The findings of these footsteps, the oldest so far in America, detail the journey taken by humans to colonize the rest of the continent. 13,000 years ago, Canada is covered with a thick layer of ice that can measure several kilometers in thickness in some areas.
But the coastal regions are free of ice, since the sea level is a hundred meters lower that it is today. These footsteps have been frozen, covered with sediments but, without knowing it, this family gives us today one of the best indications of the movement of humans from that time in Canada. A footstep on the beach would normally have faded, but in their case, the clay would have dried in the sun and would have filled with sand at high tide. Twigs of wood embedded in the tracing of the footsteps have been dated to about 13,000-13,500 years ago.
The traces of the bare feet were so well preserved that they estimate they are those of a man who could have worn size 7 or 8 shoe, a size 3 woman, and finally a last one that could have been a child’s size of 8. (It is up to you to figure out these shoe sizes according to each one of your country of residence).
Since the area was also an island 13,000 years ago, it might also indicate that these humans had to use a certain form of boat to sail from one island to another or to avoid the ice walls barring their way to the interior of Canada.
But the above-mentioned discovery does not equal the next one that found a small village dated to 14,000 years ago and which rewrites the maps of the settlement of America and even precedes the founding of Rome and the construction of the pyramids of Giza. Of course, there were populated areas before Rome and Egypt but here in Canada! Wow. Many historians and anthropologists alike, since the beginning of the twentieth century were literally pulling their hair out asking themselves how the settlement of the American continent had taken place. But the last discovery, made by Alisha Gauvreau, a University of Victoria student (yes again on the West Coast) has unlighted the remains of a small human colony which was dated to about… 14,000 years ago! Here is, no more, no less, the earliest record of human presence on the North American continent, more precisely in Canada.
Have you ever heard of the small island of Triquet located off the coast of British COlumbia? Do not worry, I myself, a resident of Canada, had never heard of it until I read the report of the findings. So, on this small island of Triquet, a rocky territory of just a kilometer long, a student has unlighted at the beginning of April 2016, the remains of a small village dated about 14,000 years ago. But that’s not all: this discovery seriously undermines the theory that the first humans landed on the American continent on foot less than 13,000 years ago while walking on a land “bridge” that would have formed between Siberia and Alaska at the heart of the Ice Age.
It is this theory of glacial crossing that is most commonly accepted today and so far acceptable as the most probable truth. Yet, the existence of this village (which includes various carved wood objects, spears, fishing gear and fire starting equipment etc.) would prove not only that the first humans arrived long before – but above all, that they landed well further to the south – and probably by boat! The discovery of the village revolutionized the mapping of the march of men totally because it goes back more than 1,000 years earlier than the 13,000 to 11,000 years previously accepted before.
According to Alisha Gauvreau, it is evident from the artifacts that she found that these humans were hunters of marine mammals especially. This theory and the footsteps discovery is supported by the ancestral memory of the British Columbia Heiltsuk and Wulkinuxv tribes that further corroborates the findings. The oral tradition, the myths and the legends of these people, passed down from generations to generations, indeed explain the presence of an area that does not freeze, roughly in the same place where both excavations took place. The ancestors of both tribes traveled to these places during periods of great cold to survive and find food.
So, as you can see, Canada is certainly not as young as you might think. I am certainly not contending that we can compete with Africa, Asia and Europe in terms of population and civilizations, but we can still be proud to realize that the First Nations have been here a lot longer than we previously thought.
It’s good when some theories are debunked by recent discoveries. I used to think Canada was young. Now, I’m not in the dark.
I got a question: The natives (American Indians) were the first to settle in North America. Does it mean (based on the discovery) that they first settled in Canada before moving into U.S.?
That is an excellent question. From what I understand of everything I read on the new discovery is that the First Nations just might be the descendants of those people who left the footsteps. But that does not mean that these very early explorers did not land lower down in the US…There are still a lot of unanswered questions. The crossing of the Bering strait remains still a very good version of the arrival of indigenous people in Canada first and then the US. But I am certainly not an expert. Thank you for your visit, your very interesting comment and up vote.
Very interesting post …. I am very interested in reading historical stories
Well, then I will do some publicity: I mostly write historical posts which I enjoy a great deal. Thank you for reading, commenting and up voting.
Magnificent entertaining excursion into history of this great country, thank you so much for this exciting journey in a time machine!!!
Thank you very much Anastasia for this wonderful comment/compliment. I also want to thank you for all the up votes you have given me on my little presentations. I appreciate them very much. I am also glad you enjoyed your time travel to my corner of the world.
Very thought-provoking. I think it’s really hard to make sure the oldest human colonies all over the world. But for sure, we go one step further to find even more, and again, including Canada!
I agree. There should and will be more research and more investigations. But I am just happy to know that my country is not as young as I thought and learned it was.
I know and very understandable!
This is mucho interesting. There seems to be a lot of research which is showing that history has to be re-written. I am just wondering when all of these discoveries will be recognized by established institutions? Thank you for posting.
Before it gets recognized and continued there will surely be a lot of debates on the findings and also a lot of issues with the methodology etc etc. But I am just glad that Canada is not as young as it seems in the history books.
Ok. Thank you. I wonder if you heard of John West. He took a piece of paper with a window and placed it over the sphinx. He went to visit an Oxford Don who is a renown geophysicist. Showed the image isolated by the window paper. Only shows the body of the sphinx. John asked him what kind of erosion is that? The Oxford Don replied, “That’s easy. That’s water”. When John took the window off and the Don saw the Sphinx, he got into a panic and said, “You can’t include me in this.” He suggested a young guy who just got his PHD in geophysics from Yale. This was the 1980s. The findings and research show conclusively that the sphinx was built long before 2500 B.C.E. In Egyptology, the mainstream eperts are like cleric protecting their canon. Your explanation certainly confirms that this is all going to take almost forever.
How fascinating to learn this, I had no idea.
As I have replied to Norman below, I did not know this myself. I thought that the First Nations (Indians) and any other humans were here way after 10,000 years ago. But I and the world have been proven wrong. Thank you for reading and commenting and especially up-voting my post. I appreciate it very much.
You are very welcome and thank you for sharing this.
Really intriguing. I didn’t have any presuppositions about the period of arrival of humans in north America, but this piece is well written and very clear. Thanks for sharing it.
Thank you very much Norman for stopping in, commenting, complimenting and especially for up-voting. I certainly appreciate it. And yes, I was surprised too. I originally thought that the First Nations or rather their predecessors arrived even much later than 10,000 years ago. But I was wrong and I am happy about it because everybody assumed that Canada and to a lesser degree the United States were so young compared to the rest of the world and even South America.
Being a fisherman’s son it made me very happy to think the first North American settlers might have been fishermen. Alisha Gauvreau’s discovery is big news and will ultimately alter every anthropology and history text in the Western Hemisphere.
According to the news that I heard and read, it has started a small new wave of research but also I think some discord and reputations.
Sorry I meant reputations. Typing on a cellphone is not my strong point.
Oops I did it again. The word is refute.
Wow ! This is really fascinating.
Yes it sure is especially for me a Canadian. Thank you for reading and commenting.