Parts of Northern Vancouver Island were ice free during the last ice age, according to new findings, giving researchers some context about the earliest human habitation on the Island.

Chris Hebda is a researcher whose graduate work looks into the pre-history of Vancouver Island. Alongside research supervisors Duncan McLaren, Quentin Mackie and the Quatsino First Nation, Hebda was trying to find an environmental record that he said B次元官网网址渨ould give us a really good indication of what the environment was like as the ice began to retreat.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淲e realized the ice was coming from the coast mountains and pushing its way across Vancouver Island before it begins to retreat. That means that places on the west side of Vancouver Island and the west coast, the ice would have gotten there last. ThatB次元官网网址檚 going to be a better place for us to look: thereB次元官网网址檚 going to be a better record and more potential for people to have been there because there is more time involved when they could have lived there, instead of it being covered in ice.B次元官网网址�

The researchers chose two lakes B次元官网网址� Top Knot Lake near the west coast of the Island and Little Woss Lake further inland B次元官网网址� in which to take core samples and test for indicators of what the environment was like deep in the past. The researchers ended up going much deeper than they thought they would.

B次元官网网址淚n Top Knot lake we pulled a lot of sediment. We went over 11 metres down into the lake sediment and then we analyzed it,B次元官网网址� Hebda said. B次元官网网址淲hen we then dated some of these remains down at the bottom, we realized that the record of Top Knot Lake was extremely old. It went back probably 18,000 years at least.

B次元官网网址淲e realized that this was a special place, it had been not covered by ice and available for people to have lived nearby for a very long time. That runs counter to a lot of the understanding that was previously established in terms of the glacial history,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淏asically what this tells us is that itB次元官网网址檚 a lot more complicated.B次元官网网址�

Before this research, the theory was that the ice went from the Coast Mountains and extended out to the edge of the continental shelf, far out into the ocean. However, these ice free areas could have provided places for people to live B次元官网网址� and routes to help them migrate further south B次元官网网址� much earlier than previously thought.

B次元官网网址淭hat also helps tie in with a lot of newer archaeological evidence emerging further south in the USA and South America,B次元官网网址� Hebda said. B次元官网网址淭here are very old archaeological sites going back 14, 15 or 16,000 years ago. Some claims even back to 20,000 years ago. People were like B次元官网网址榟ow could they have even gotten there, if there was ice blocking their way as they were coming across from North East Asia, Beringia (the prehistoric land bridge between Russia and Alaska) and down into the Americas?B次元官网网址� ItB次元官网网址檚 research like this that tells us.B次元官网网址�

Besides filling in that missing piece of the story, the research also provides the context to help find evidence of early human habitation on the Island. Analysis of diatoms and pollen in the core samples helped Hebda determine that sea level had likely never reached Top Knot Lake. In addition sea level was likely much lower than it is now.

B次元官网网址淭here was probably a lot of land out on what is now the continental shelf that was exposed as well. Top Knot Lake today is only a few kilometres from the ocean, but in the past it probably was a lot further from the ocean B次元官网网址� at least several more kilometres of land on which people could have been living,B次元官网网址� Hebda said. B次元官网网址淭hat makes it difficult for us to be looking, because it means we need to be looking under water.B次元官网网址�

The team was also able to find DNA belonging to fish species on which modern humans rely: Chinook salmon.

B次元官网网址淲e were able to demonstrate at Little Woss Lake that Chinook salmon were in that lake over 14,000 years agoB次元官网网址� ItB次元官网网址檚 a vital resource for a lot of people on the coast, and has been for a very long time. Not only does (this research) give us a record of the trees that were around, but also the resources and food items that people were able to use in the past.B次元官网网址�

Hebda did acknowledge that they have not found any direct evidence of human habitation from that time period. Those questions remain unanswered. What they found, however, was contextual information to show what kind of landscape would have been around at that time, which in turn would help narrow down some potential likely settlement locations.

B次元官网网址淣ow that we understand the environmental context we can now decide to either look under water or we have to look for features that are above (sea level), but would have been interesting places for people to go to like caves, look out spots and things like that.B次元官网网址�

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marc.kitteringham@campbellrivermirror.com
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