Complete Silence
Alisha Gauvreau moved with steady hands as she transferred the samples over.
It wasn’t much to work with, and therefore like scientific gold. The hours of waiting were excruciating and they chatted and debated with excitement. However, when the results came back, no one uttered a word. This had to be a mistake.
Long Debate
It had been a long-running debate between the scientific community and the First Nation indigenous people of British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest.
The arguments were over the island of Triquet. The Heiltsuk said it was theirs by ancestral rights. Scientists say it was impossible. Why were they so sure?
Completely Covered
Since Canada was covered during the last ice age, any settlements in the area would have been unimaginable.
The area was a place of transit over the land bridge between Siberia and Alaska – nothing more. On the other hand, the Heiltsuk had oral traditions passed down through thousands of years. Archeologists finally agreed to look into it.
First Discovery
The small group of scientists, including Alisha Gauvreau, made their way to Triquet. The area was stunning, like an enormous bonsai garden.
They set up their work stations and immediately got to excavating. It was deep under many layers of earth that they found something shocking. Something that should not have been there.
Looking For More
It was an ancient, wood-burning hearth. Everyone looked at each other in confusion.
The area would have been buried deep under ice at the time. To dig down through layers of ice and snow was insane. But if there was one thing under the earth … there had to be more. Alisha felt her heart pump as she swept the dirt away.
Beautiful Obsidian
The next thing they found was a collection of large tools. “How is this possible?” Alisha asked, holding a piece of obsidian in her hand.
What they knew about the Heiltsuk was they had been fishermen of small creatures. Not enormous ones like the items suggested. “Guys?” another digger said, “I think I found something else.”
Tiny But Vital
He pointed to streaks and bits of black. It was ancient pieces of charcoal that had been preserved with the hearth.
Alisha rushed to take a closer look. “We need to carbon date this … now.” The item was rushed off to the labs along with hundreds of unanswered questions.
More Questions
It was clear that people had lived there, but how did they survive the ice? Why were there tools for large creatures instead of small?
How did all of this tie in with the Heiltsuk’s oral history? She had the sneaking suspicion that everything they thought was going to change. And how did the First People already know?
Can't Be Right
The results appeared on the screen. “No, no, no,” one of them said. “That’s impossible. That would put it a solid 2000 years before.”
Another turned the monitor to take a closer look. “But that means there wasn’t even ice there.” What was the number that had they all stumped?
New Thinking
Carbon dating puts the settlement at 14,000 years old. Not only did that make the site home to the oldest remains in North American history, but globally it was older than the Pyramids of Giza.
Their entire thinking had to shift, and a new picture of history appeared which was astonishing. What did it look like?
Earlier Boats
First, the island area wouldn’t have been covered by the continental glacier.
It also means that they would have needed boats – which hadn’t even been invented yet (as far as scientists knew). The tools also started to make more sense. It wasn’t small fish they hunted…
Bigger Prey
The large creatures of the age could have fair game for food.
Also, with the constant sea level, and erosion of the islands over 15,000 years, the Heiltsuk were fairly protected from the large predators that would have normally plagued a settlement. They brought their findings to the tribe. Their reaction is exactly what you would expect.
We Told You So
They looked at the archeologists with a mix of amusement and a significant amount of “we told you so”.
It wasn’t just the physical discoveries that were unbelievable, it was the fact that the tribe had passed down an accurate history for tens of thousands of years. Soon, however, a new problem emerged.
Making Things Right
The world was so caught up with the find, that the focus was on the items and numbers – rather than the Heiltsuk, their amazing history, and the right they had to the island.
Alisha felt a large pang of guilt. The archeology community had been so arrogant and now the real truth was being ignored. She stepped in.
New History
Alisha worked to re-shift the conversation back to the Heiltsuk and to the oldest land claim in the world.
People don’t usually think of Canada as a place of ancient wonders, but now, the British Columbia tribe has shown the world a different, amazing reality.