10,000-year-old weapon found at site of new Ontario arena

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10,000-year-old weapon found at site of new Ontario arena
 
 
By Gary Rennie, Windsor StarNovember 27, 2009



_{Early Paleoindian fluted (or grooved) spear points that date to ca. 12,500 to 13,000 years old in our calendar
Photograph by: File , Handout}

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WINDSOR, Ont. — Archaeologists in Windsor, Ont., have discovered a 10,000-year-old stone weapon created by the first humans who lived in the province.

Newmarket archaeologist Kim Slocki said she found a single “projectile point” in her pre-construction survey of the site of a new arena.

“It’s at least 10,000 years old,” Slocki said.

She said the artifact comes from Paleoindian hunters often called the “first people of Ontario.”

Other archeologists familiar with the area said her find is at least 7,000 years older than anything previously discovered there.

Neal Ferris, former regional archaeologist and heritage planner for the province, said Slocki’s find is the first in the Windsor-area going back to the era of Paleoindians.

“I know that area well,” said Ferris, who teaches at the University of Western Ontario.

Archeologist Christopher Ellis, one of North America’s leading experts on Paleoindians, described them as nomadic hunters and fishermen who moved into southern Ontario as the glaciers retreated. “It’s like a needle in a haystack to find one of these sites,” said Ellis, who also teaches at the University of Western Ontario.

Based on U.S. excavations, it’s believed Paleoindians hunted mastodons, he said.

In Ontario, they may have hunted caribou and Arctic fox, based on bones found at one site, Ellis said.

A 15-metre by 10-metre site where the artifact was found has now been fenced off for a more comprehensive archeological dig in the spring, Slocki said.

But the discovery wasn’t close enough to the arena site to hold up construction, said Mayor Wayne Hurst.

Windsor Star

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