Last fall, as archeologist Yves Chrétien was supervising a team digging at the site of a future hockey rink northeast of Montreal, a mini excavator unearthed pieces of cut stone.
Formed under an ancient sea, the stones bore marks made by indigenous people somewhere between 6,150 and 8,200 years ago. The discovery, found below the site of a former Shell distribution centre and 18th and 19th century farms, could help shed light on the region’s little-known prehistoric period.
In a recent interview, Chrétien said the stones discovered at the future rink in Sorel-Tracy, Que., were excavated from an ancient marine sediment—the stratified layers of which allowed him to calculate the approximate period they came from.
“Right away, I understood that something was happening that wasn’t very usual,” he said. “It was something special.”
Other prehistoric sites have been discovered in the area, but most don’t date back further than 4,500 years. “What I discovered is older than that, and these are sites that are very rare and very little known, which makes it important to properly document,” he said.
From just a few pieces of cut stone, Chrétien says it’s possible to reconstruct a story.
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The site, he said, was once covered by a vast body of salt water called the Champlain Sea. As its waters receded a little over 8,000 years ago, people were able to walk the shoreline. The impact marks in the stones, Chrétien said, likely indicate where people tested the rock for possible use as tools.
“We probably had people walking, circulating at the edge of the river and, once they discovered a block of stone, tested it to see if it lent itself well to the making of tools,” he said.
The archeologist said he didn’t find any completed tools—possibly because the stone wasn’t good enough quality—or indication of a camp or settlement. Nevertheless, he said, discoveries from that era can help researchers learn more about how people lived in that period, and about the materials they used and the source of those materials.
“Each new piece of information we collect adds to the knowledge of that era, which is very little known, so every new element is a plus,” he said.
In a statement, the City of Sorel-Tracy said more digging is underway and that the skating ring construction will begin once that finishes in the coming weeks. The city noted that other important artifacts have been found on its territory in the past, including other prehistoric objects, an ancient military camp and objects linked to the 1787 visit of William Henry, a future English king.
Chrétien said the dig has also turned up other artifacts, including pieces of ceramic, clay pipes and bottle pieces dating from 18th century farms.
As exciting as all the findings are, he still dreams of excavating a “diagnostic object” that can be tied conclusively to a specific date or a narrow historical period. While his hopes had initially been raised that he had found a spot that could be used for carbon dating, that now appears less promising.
He’ll keep looking “up to the last minute,” he said.
Chrétien said all the objects that are found will be cleaned, analyzed, and eventually turned over to Sorel-Tracy, which could choose to exhibit them.
