A piece of charcoal unearthed at a Saskatchewan archaeological site and tested in a lab suggests the site is 11,000 years old and was likely used as a long-term settlement by Indigenous people.
The site near Prince Albert, Sask., suggests Indigenous people lived in the region about 1,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to the Sturgeon Lake First Nation (SLFN).
Researchers who worked at the site last summer and collected samples for testing shared some early findings in January with the Âsowanânihk Council, the SLFN body leading the project.
Radiocarbon dating tests of charcoal taken from a hearth at the riverbank site suggest the settlement dates back about 10,700 years, confirming early speculation about the site along North Saskatchewan River.