Artifacts Hailed As Major Find - Weapons Used More Than 10,000 Years Ago (Quebec)

The Gazette ^ | 8-14-2003 | Irwin Block

[blam]

Artifacts hailed as major find - Weapons used more than 10,000 years ago

IRWIN BLOCK
The Gazette

Thursday, August 14, 2003

The discovery in the Lac Mégantic region of three fragments of spearheads, believed to be more than 10,000 years old, is being hailed as a major find.

The artifacts, which will be displayed at a press conference today, are said to be the first evidence of human habitation in Quebec after glaciers receded and the ice age ended some 12,000 years ago.

They are from fluted spearheads typical of weapons used in the early Paleo-Indian period, which existed from 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.

The fragments are of the Clovis style, which was characteristic of weapons and tools of that era in several parts of North America.

They were unearthed by an archeological team led by anthropology professor Claude Chapdelaine, of the Université de Montréal, on a wooded lot near Lac des Araignées, southeast of Lac Mégantic, 250 kilometres east of Montreal.

He identified the site eight years ago as a promising area because it had been an old exit for melting water during deglaciation toward the Atlantic seaboard, making it ideal for caribou herds after the stabilization of the water levels. The herds usually attracted human hunters.

This is the first such discovery in Quebec, although similar findings have occurred in Maine, New Hampshire, Nova Scotia and Ontario.

"I am relieved and pleased for Quebec archeology," Chapdelaine said by phone from Mégantic. "God gave me three pieces this year - I'm hoping to find more in the coming years."

Chapdelaine expects the find will encourage other Quebec archeologists to explore more promising sites in the province.

Photographer Robert Galbraith, an amateur archeologist who has been searching for Paleo-Indian sites during 20 years of collecting artifacts, was thrilled at the find.

"This is great news, awesome - the Holy Grail of archeology, to find the earliest occupation of the land," Galbraith said.

"At that time, this was a tundra-arctic environment, and you'd have the caribou and the arctic wolf, boreal and tundra-type species that native people would hunt with spears," Galbraith said.

"This is a pre-bow-and-arrow era - a time when people used spears and rocks. Thrilling."

[Alas Babylon!]

Actually Blam, the Iberian connection is the Souletrean culture, which actually existed 24,000 years ago, so the times are very wide apart. However, I'm thinking about the sea level map you posted the other day (both of us post this now and then, huh?), and what lands actually existed then. Just suppose that the Souletreans followed sea life along the Northern Atlantic until the hit the Grand Banks. Now, the Grand Banks are under water, but back then, they would have been a vast island much, much closer to Europe than anything today. Northeast North America would have been covered by a vast ice sheet extending right into the North Atlantic, stopping at Cape Cod and Long Island (which in fact were formed at the terminal point of this ice sheet). Suppose these hunters lived for 10-15,000 years in this location, and when the ice sheets finally ended, their home was flooded, and they moved slightly West, and of course, the rest is being dug up and found today.

You have often remarked that the real discoveries lie covered in sea water today. We need an archeoligical submarine!

[Alas Babylon!]

Here's a great link from Blam, folks: GOING INTO THE WATER: A SURVEY OF IMPACT EVENTS AND THE COASTAL PEOPLES OF SOUTH-EAST NORTH AMERICA, THE CARIBBEAN, AND CENTRAL AMERICA

[blam]

"Actually Blam, the Iberian connection is the Souletrean culture, which actually existed 24,000 years ago, so the times are very wide apart."

The Cactus Hill And Topper sites have some dates in the 18-20,000 year range.(...and these are just the ones we've found)

I read somewhere that there are Welsh stories that speak of glass islands (icebergs/floes) with people on them that do not speak (penguins). I found this a real interesting interpertation.

I believe it was somewhere on this site.

[yhwhsman]

LOL, too late happygrl. :)

I've always been fascinated with things that 'don't fit' standard beliefs. Lately I've been finding a bunch of websites that describe archeological finds that don't fit with what we've been taught.

Just last night I've found several sites that are discussing things through a Christian perspective. Take a gander at Steve Quayle's World, especially the section on giants. He's got a research paper on Neanderthal man, and that he may have actually been the Nephilim of the Bible.

Milllenium Ark also has a lot of food for thought. And the thing that amazes me is the people running these sites are very credible, not some flakes like you see on other sites.

Yhwhsman

[happygrl]

Thanks for the links. They look like they're right up my alley in terms of interests.

The issue of the Nephilim and giants is one that appears to be getting a second look. If prehistoric animals were of giant size, why not humans ?

[yhwhsman]

Check out the link to Giants on Steve Quayle's site, then take a peek at the pictures. Pretty awe inspiring. :)


Yhwhsman