Skip to main content

New discoveries show humans settled the Americas some 5,000 years earlier than previously thought – and the actual timeframe may go back even further. These Canadian researchers are digging for clues to the past

Open this photo in gallery:

The Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site, as seen from a float plane, July 5, 2012.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail

1 of 10
Open this photo in gallery:

Captain Gold with a youth group in the Gwaii Haanas National Park, July 5, 2012.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail

2 of 10
Open this photo in gallery:

Quentin Mackie, a University of Victoria professor conducting research in the Gwaii Haanas National Park, makes his way to a site with wooden stakes used as a fishing weirs, July 5, 2012.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail

3 of 10
Open this photo in gallery:

Captain Gold at the entrance to a native longhouse in the Gwaii Haanas National Park, July 5, 2012.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail

4 of 10
Open this photo in gallery:

Captain Gold with a youth group in the Gwaii Haanas National Park, July 5, 2012.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail

5 of 10
Open this photo in gallery:

Jenny Cohen, a University of Victoria student helping with research in the Gwaii Haanas National Park, looks over wooden stakes used as a fishing weirs, July 5, 2012.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail

6 of 10
Open this photo in gallery:

Wooden stakes used as a fishing weirs in the Gwaii Haanas National Park, July 5, 2012.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail

7 of 10
Open this photo in gallery:

Gwaliga Hart, a Haida student, helps on a dig and with research in the Gwaii Haanas National Park, July 5, 2012.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail

8 of 10
Open this photo in gallery:

Nathalie Macfarlane, director and curator of the Haida Gwaii Museum, holds up a 14,000-year-old bear skull, July 5, 2012.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail

9 of 10
Open this photo in gallery:

Quentin Mackie, a University of Victoria professor conducting research in the Gwaii Haanas National Park , holds a stone tool, July 5, 2012.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail

10 of 10

Interact with The Globe