'Very early': Scientists date when humans first came to Alberta's oilsands region
New research may have answered a long-standing mystery by pinning a rough date on the earliest known humans in Canada's oilsands region.
In a recently published paper, professor Robin Woywitka of Edmonton's MacEwan University says a combination of archeology and geology has revealed that people were living around Fort McMurray, Alta., at least 11,000 years ago and perhaps as long ago as 13,000 years ago.
“People were in the Fort McMurray area very early,” Woywitka said.
“Fort McMurray has been a nexus for millennia. It's attracted people forever.”
Scientists have long known the region has a lengthy human history. An archeological site known the Quarry of the Ancestors has yielded millions of artifacts since it was discovered there in the 1990s.
But putting dates to them has been tough.
Standard methods such as radiocarbon dating are out. The area's acidic soils destroy the organic materials those techniques depend on.
Sometimes, scientists can use sedimentary layers in the earth to date artifacts. But this area has been so stable that there aren't many places where sediment has been deposited.
So Woywitka and his colleagues tried something new.
They took satellite maps that revealed the surface topography with an accuracy to within a few square metres. They used that information to find sites where sedimentation was most likely to have happened and selected five of them - one of them in the Quarry of the Ancestors.
Sediments from those sites were dated using a technique called infrared stimulated luminescence.
That technique exploits the fact sand grains collect tiny radioactive particles in their pores. Those particles deteriorate at a known rate when exposed to light. So, the longer they've been buried, the more particles there will be.
Infrared light causes those particles to release energy. That can then be measured to reveal when the host sand grains were buried, along with the stone tools buried beside them.
In this case, the answer was 12,000 years, give or take a millennium.
“It has more uncertainty than radiocarbon dating, but it's better than nothing,” Woywitka said.
The findings put those early people right at the start of when that part of the world became livable. The first inhabitants would have moved there within a few centuries after the catastrophic flood that drained glacial Lake Agassiz, a vast inland sea that once covered almost all of what is now Manitoba and half of present-day Ontario.
The date isn't too long after humans first came to North America, which most archeologists believe happened about 16,000 years ago.
They would have found a landscape very far from the lush boreal forests and teeming wetlands that now cover much of northern Alberta.
“People are dealing with a much different environment than what we see today - open, dry, cold,” Woywitka said. “Probably tundra-y or grassland.”
They probably hunted bison, Woywitka said. Beyond that, there's little that can be said.
“Whether they came from the north or south, we don't know.”
Despite the proliferation of artifacts, scientists can't fit them neatly into the cultural tool kits of other prehistoric people. The presence of materials from other parts of the continent suggest trading networks with other areas, but little is known.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.