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Gaspé Peninsula
ONE OF THE OLDEST SITES After the glaciers began to melt 13 000 years ago, groups of Paleoindians began to spread out throughout North America. They gradually established themselves in the northeast corner of the continent.
It is assumed that the first people to arrive in the Gaspé Peninsula originated in the western Prairies, crossing the Ottawa Valley or following the St. Lawrence River. Later, other groups travelled along the Atlantic coast and reached the Strait of Belle Isle. The village of La Martre, which sits on either side of the river bearing the same name, has the privilege of being an ideal place for studying some of the oldest sites of human occupation in Quebec. ALERT HUNTERS Eight thousand years ago, the Gaspé Peninsula was a cold, desert territory. The tundra environment was probably home to herds of caribou that the hunters could spy from far away. Although bone remains have not been found on the sites, it has been possible to analyse microscopic blood residues left on the cutting edges of certain implements discovered by archaeologists and thus learn about the diversity of the wildlife hunted at the time.
The initial results of this analysis support the hypothesis that the Paleoindians hunted a variety of animal species, including caribou, perhaps black bear, hare, at least one species of rodent (lemming) and possibly certain marine mammals (seal and walrus). In addition to hunting and trapping, salmon fishing was also probably a source of food. EXPERT TOOL MAKERS Paleoindians developed unparalleled skill in the art of flaking stone. No subsequent prehistoric group fashioned tools with such dexterity.
It seems likely that the people who travelled through the region made use of its chert quarries. Chert is a type of stone that is ideal for making tools and weapons. Archaeological work has uncovered several thousand blank flakes and hundreds of tools, including points with parallel retouches, hand drills, side-scrapers and lanceolate biface knives. CHERT QUARRIES The most abundant raw material on Paleoindian sites in this region is radiolarian chert, a mineral formed during the Ordovician period, 450 million years ago. The color of this local chert may be black, beige, grey or green. Like flint, it is a siliceous stone that lends itself to tool making.
In the summer of 1998, archaeologists discovered a site on a mountainside close to La Martre. The site contained an enormous quantity of blade detachment debris, among which lay a projectile point with the narrow, regular parallel flaking characteristic of the tradition that archaeologists designate as Plano. This is the name given to a culture whose earliest traces have been found on the western plains.
REGION'S PROFILE PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGION: The Appalachians consist of an immense chain of mountains stretching from the America southeast (Alabama) to Newfoundland. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, the same formation extends from Ireland to northern Norway. In Canada, the chain thus goes through the Eastern Townships, the Lower St. Lawrence, the Gaspé Peninsula and the Atlantic provinces. In North America, the Appalachians began to rise 500 million years ago, when a zone of water-eroded debris from the Canadian Shield was pushed upwards. With the resulting folding and faulting, magma intruded and sedimentary layers turned into metamorphic rock. Mont Jacques-Cartier (1 268 m), in the heart of the Gaspé Peninsula, is the highest Appalachian summit in Quebec. PLANT COVER: Mixed forest (coniferous and deciduous trees) on the north and south shores of the peninsula PRESENT CLIMATE: Mean annual temperature between 0.8 and 4.7°C Warm summers, mean temperature for the three warmest months between 13.6°C and 15.7°C Cold winters, mean temperature for the three coldest months between –11.6°C and –9.7°C Length of average growing season between 143 and 182 days
RESEARCH The first archaeological discoveries were made here in the 1960s, thanks to Father Roland Provost, then the parish priest at the village of La Martre. In 1969, an archaeological excavation undertaken by the Société d'archéologie préhistorique du Québec led to the discovery of the first parallel-flaked point. José Benmouyal conducted archaeological work throughout the Gaspé Peninsula between 1972 and 1980. In 1995, the Corporation du Centre d'interprétation archéologique de la Gaspésie entrusted the Ethnoscope inc. company with a project to research and develop the region's archaeological heritage (1995-1996). Subsequently (1997-1999), Éric Chalifour and his team from the anthropology department of the Université de Montréal undertook three seasons of digging at eight Late Paleoindian sites (between 8 000 and 10 000 years ago). To date, nearly 25 archaeological sites have been found around La Martre alone; at least 12 of them are associated with Late Paleoindian occupations. © Exhibit
Center, Université de Montréal 2006. All rights reserved. Questions/comments? |
