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The First People
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 No one can be certain when the first people arrived in what would become
Alberta. According to the oral traditions of Alberta’s Aboriginal Peoples, they have
inhabited this region since the beginning of time. Although some groups speak of
having traveled to new lands long ago, many Aboriginal Peoples believe that
they have always inhabited their current territories.
Archaeologists and geologists believe that two huge
glaciers covered almost all of Alberta 13,000 years ago. As the glaciers
began to retreat, they separated. This opened up land along the eastern slopes
of the Rockies to human inhabitants. At present there are many theories as to
when and how these people reached Alberta. Archaeological evidence from ancient
sites show that by
at least 11,500 to 12,000 years ago, human beings inhabited parts of what we now
call Alberta.
The
occupants of these ancient sites hunted mammoths, bison,
horses and other Ice Age animals using stone tipped
spears. The points for these spears are very distinctive
and have been found throughout the western United States
and the Canadian Prairies. Discovered first near Clovis
and Folsom, New Mexico, archaeologists call the makers
of these artifacts the Clovis and Folsom peoples. In
Alberta, Clovis points have been found at Lake
Minnewanka near Banff, Drayton Valley and in the Peace
River area. Recently an important find of these points
has been made near Cardston, Alberta.
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