Post by Rick (Admin) on Sept 15, 2012 8:07:35 GMT -5
TIMMINS - We sometimes forget that our local history has a little more to offer than just the tale of the very recent mining and lumbering settlements that still exist today. The early 20th century is very recent when you look at a historical timeline.
I have been on the receiving end of some skeptical looks when I say that people have been living in this area for well over 5,000 years.
Ontario pre-history is divided into four main periods: the Paleo-Indian (9000 to 5000 BC), the Archaic (5000-1000 BC), the Initial Woodland Period (1000 BC to 1000 AD) and the Terminal Woodland Period, from 1000 to 1600 AD.
To make things a little clearer, back when Egyptians had yet to build their pyramids, when Gilgamesh was king of Uruk, a Sumerian city-state and the Minoans had reached the height of their civilization on the isle of Crete, the Archaic Period was in full swing here in Canada.
There was a group of people living here in Northern Ontario, where Moose Lake exists today (back then, most likely, it was a huge swamp with a stream running through it) that we can identify as Shield Archaic, meaning that they lived on the Canadian Shield, during the Archaic Period, in nomadic settlements that stretched from the Keewatin District of the Northwest Territories to Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.
They were most likely, along with the Plano Culture (cultures living in Western Canada, on the Plains), the descendents of the Clovis culture, who lived in North America during the last Ice Age, about 11,000 years ago.
The Shield Archaic arrived in Northern Ontario as the continental glacier retreated from our area during the last Ice Age, and probably quickly inhabited the area right up to the Hudson Bay Lowlands. In southern Ontario, the Laurentian Archaic left evidence of their cultures from just south of North Bay, stretching from the Great Lakes, to the St. Lawrence River, and all the way to Windsor.
We know they lived here because they left a lot of pieces behind. The Shield Archaic sites in Northern Ontario were located near lakes and rivers, and probably near where natural caribou crossings were evident.
Judging from some of the tools left behind, caribou were important to their survival, being a key element of their diet. Fishing would have also been a part of daily life. They probably hunted small game, waterfowl and bear when necessary.
Living near the water and on many islands meant that the Shield Archaic had the capability of building canoes. Again, the tools they left behind help support this idea.
We also think they made snowshoes because it would have been practically impossible to move around in the winter months without them (and a retreating glacier does not mean instant sunshine, heat and a beach).
No bones have been found on these inhabited sites, however, because the highly acidic soils of our region disintegrated those remains. Burial sites have been found along the southern most part of their territory. Many of the customs are similar to those found with the Laurentian group, suggesting that the two cultures exchanged information and of course, traded objects with each other.
Just down the highway from us is the Fretz Site, home to the Shield Archaic thousands of years ago. For well over 40 years, the Frezt family, who farmed the land, has collected a number of objects from the site that were eventually donated to museums in the area.
Archeologists from the Museum of Man (now the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa) conducted a detailed study of the artifacts found across Canada that were part of the Shield Archaic culture. In Timmins, they were able to identify 174 objects that included projectile points, scrapers, blades, knives, drills, hammerstones and abraders.
Also of interest was a red gouge, not commonly found on Northern Shield Archaic sites, but that is well represented in the Laurentian culture. As well, a large slate bayonet indicated that they hunted some pretty big game in this area. As the caribou retreated further north, moose moved into the area, and were probably hunted by those early people.
While we may use photos of British soldiers, women in long gowns and frilly bonnets, and old forts to illustrate Ontario history, we should remember that this province has an interesting prehistoric past that bears investigating.
— Karen Bachmann is the director/curator of the Timmins Museum and a local author.
www.timminspress.com/2012/09/14/ancient-northerners-thrived
I have been on the receiving end of some skeptical looks when I say that people have been living in this area for well over 5,000 years.
Ontario pre-history is divided into four main periods: the Paleo-Indian (9000 to 5000 BC), the Archaic (5000-1000 BC), the Initial Woodland Period (1000 BC to 1000 AD) and the Terminal Woodland Period, from 1000 to 1600 AD.
To make things a little clearer, back when Egyptians had yet to build their pyramids, when Gilgamesh was king of Uruk, a Sumerian city-state and the Minoans had reached the height of their civilization on the isle of Crete, the Archaic Period was in full swing here in Canada.
There was a group of people living here in Northern Ontario, where Moose Lake exists today (back then, most likely, it was a huge swamp with a stream running through it) that we can identify as Shield Archaic, meaning that they lived on the Canadian Shield, during the Archaic Period, in nomadic settlements that stretched from the Keewatin District of the Northwest Territories to Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.
They were most likely, along with the Plano Culture (cultures living in Western Canada, on the Plains), the descendents of the Clovis culture, who lived in North America during the last Ice Age, about 11,000 years ago.
The Shield Archaic arrived in Northern Ontario as the continental glacier retreated from our area during the last Ice Age, and probably quickly inhabited the area right up to the Hudson Bay Lowlands. In southern Ontario, the Laurentian Archaic left evidence of their cultures from just south of North Bay, stretching from the Great Lakes, to the St. Lawrence River, and all the way to Windsor.
We know they lived here because they left a lot of pieces behind. The Shield Archaic sites in Northern Ontario were located near lakes and rivers, and probably near where natural caribou crossings were evident.
Judging from some of the tools left behind, caribou were important to their survival, being a key element of their diet. Fishing would have also been a part of daily life. They probably hunted small game, waterfowl and bear when necessary.
Living near the water and on many islands meant that the Shield Archaic had the capability of building canoes. Again, the tools they left behind help support this idea.
We also think they made snowshoes because it would have been practically impossible to move around in the winter months without them (and a retreating glacier does not mean instant sunshine, heat and a beach).
No bones have been found on these inhabited sites, however, because the highly acidic soils of our region disintegrated those remains. Burial sites have been found along the southern most part of their territory. Many of the customs are similar to those found with the Laurentian group, suggesting that the two cultures exchanged information and of course, traded objects with each other.
Just down the highway from us is the Fretz Site, home to the Shield Archaic thousands of years ago. For well over 40 years, the Frezt family, who farmed the land, has collected a number of objects from the site that were eventually donated to museums in the area.
Archeologists from the Museum of Man (now the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa) conducted a detailed study of the artifacts found across Canada that were part of the Shield Archaic culture. In Timmins, they were able to identify 174 objects that included projectile points, scrapers, blades, knives, drills, hammerstones and abraders.
Also of interest was a red gouge, not commonly found on Northern Shield Archaic sites, but that is well represented in the Laurentian culture. As well, a large slate bayonet indicated that they hunted some pretty big game in this area. As the caribou retreated further north, moose moved into the area, and were probably hunted by those early people.
While we may use photos of British soldiers, women in long gowns and frilly bonnets, and old forts to illustrate Ontario history, we should remember that this province has an interesting prehistoric past that bears investigating.
— Karen Bachmann is the director/curator of the Timmins Museum and a local author.
www.timminspress.com/2012/09/14/ancient-northerners-thrived