‘Very Early’: Scientists Date When Humans First Came to Alberta’s Oilsands Region

Reid Graham (left to right) of the Manitoba Historic Resources Management Branch, Todd Kristensen of the Archaeological Survey of Alberta and Robin Woywitka of MacEwan University excavate an archeological dig in the Fort McMurray, Alta., area in a handout photo. The Canadian Press/HO/Brittany Romano

New research may have answered a long-standing mystery by pinning a rough date on the earliest known humans in Canada’s oilsands region.

In a recently published paper, professor Robin Woywitka of Edmonton’s MacEwan University says a combination of archeology and geology has revealed that people were living around Fort McMurray, Alta., at least 11,000 years ago and perhaps as long ago as 13,000 years ago.