An Aboriginal Presence

Our Origins

Archaeology - At the Edge of the Ice

Middle Postglacial: 5,000 years ago - Most glaciers had shrunk to nearly their modern size by this time, but the Tyrrell Sea still occupied land that now borders Hudson Bay. Prince Edward Island may have remained connected to the mainland, but most coastlines were near their modern positions.

Ancestral Aboriginal peoples continued to expand their territories, as plants and animals colonized new lands. Coastal Newfoundland and Labrador were first occupied at this time, as were the Canadian Arctic Islands and Greenland.

 Land   Ice   Water
 Dated archaeological site

Northern North America, Middle Postglacial, 5,000 years ago
Courtesy of Richard Morlan, Canadian Museum of Civilization

Beringia

Full Glacial: 18,000 years ago

Late Glacial: 11,000 years ago

Early Postglacial: 8,000 years ago

Middle Postglacial: 5,000 years ago

Late Postglacial: 1,000 years ago