New research may have answered a long-standing mystery by pinning a rough date on the earliest known humans in Canada’s oilsands region.
In a recently published paper, professor Robin Woywitka of Edmonton’s MacEwan University says a combination of archeology and geology has revealed that people were living around Fort McMurray, Alta., at least 11,000 years ago and perhaps as long ago as 13,000 years ago.
“People were in the Fort McMurray area very early,” Woywitka said.
“Fort McMurray has been a nexus for millennia. It’s attracted people forever.”
Scientists have long known the region has a lengthy human history. An archeological site known the Quarry of the Ancestors has yielded millions of artifacts since it was discovered there in the 1990s….