EDMONTON -- Farmer John Macklin was clearing rocks off his land, the kind of rocks that often beat up his farm equipment, when he stumbled across something unique. It has since been assessed by experts, who say it's very, very old.
"If my life depended on it and I had to guess I'd say it's at least 10,000 years old,” said Royal Alberta Museum Archaeologist Bob Dawe.
"So that's really, really cool,” said Macklin.
Dawe says the artifact would have been used to scrape hides, antlers, bone, and more, likely used by a hunter some 10,000 to 14,000 years ago.
"They might have been a hunter who may have hunted animals that are now extinct,” says Macklin.
"The person that used that artifact may have known what a woolly mammoth looked like,” among other creatures says Dawe. "The whole menagerie of Pleistocene critters that was around Alberta before 10,000 years ago."
Which both Macklin and Dawe agree leaves plenty for the imagination to consider.
"Who were they, how old were they, what were their challenges, were they happy, was the weather good, what did they have to eat you know, there's a connection that always gets goosebumps,” said Dawe.
"It really sparks the imagination as to you know what they saw, what they did, and how they lived,” said Macklin. “I guess every rock has some sort of story to tell."
A thought not lost on the archaeologist.
“Very unique and interesting and significant."
