14,000-year-old village found in British Columbia, Canada
During an excavation on a remote island in British Columbia, an ancient village considered to be one of the oldest human settlements ever identified in North America was discovered.
The village was located on a rocky spit on Triquet Island, about 500 kilometres northwest of Victoria, Canada, and is thought to be 14,000 years old.
It is estimated the village is older than Egypt’s pyramids.
Scientists said the discovered objects, including fire lighting tools , fish hooks and spears dating back to the Ice Age, paint a picture of how civilization started in North America, reports CTV Vancouver Island News.
Alisha Gauvreau, an anthropology PhD student at the University of Victoria and a researcher at the Hakai Institute, which supports the archaeological team, took part in the excavation work.
She told the Canadian television network: “I remember when we get the dates back and we just kind of sat there going, holy moly, this is old. What this is doing is just changing our idea of the way in which North America was first peopled.”
Experts believe a large human migration may have occurred on British Columbia’s coastline.
But the discovery also matches the oral history of the Heiltsuk Nation, a First Nations government in British Columbia.
According to Heiltsuk Nation’s oral traditions, stories of ancient coastal villages have been passed down for generations.
William Housty, from the Heiltsuk Nation, said: “To think about how these stories survived all of that, only to be supported by this archaeological evidence is just amazing”.
