Matthew Farfan

Were prehistoric "Townshippers" the first people in Quebec? New evidence suggests that this may well be the case. Recently, three spearhead fragments were discovered near Lake Megantic in the Eastern Townships, The Record reported last week. The artifacts are estimated to be between ten and twelve thousand years old, experts believe. They are also thought to be the oldest known evidence of human habitation in Quebec after the glaciers receded at the end of the last ice age 12,000 years ago.

The fragments are from spearheads typical of weapons used in the early paleoindian period, and are fashioned in what is termed the "Clovis style". They were discovered by a team led by Université de Montréal anthropology professor Claude Chapdelaine near Lac des Araignées, southeast of Lake Megantic. Chapdelaine had identified the spot as a former exit for glacial melt-water in the deglaciation period. He had suspected it might also have been a grazing ground for caribou during that era, and hence a site frequented by the hunters of these animals.

Robert Galbraith, an archaeologist who has been searching for paleoindian sites for twenty years, was ecstatic about this new find, The Record reported. "This is great news, awesome, the Holy Grail of archaeology, to find the earliest occupation of the land, he said."