A look at life thousands of years ago is being revealed west of Calgary.
An archeological dig has found all kinds of items from an ancient First Nations camp.
The find was made during prep work for the upgrade to Highway 1A. The area is near the turnoff to Bow Valley Provincial Park.
The dig is underway just north of Hector Lake near the Stoney Nakota Lodge. Norm Rider says he always wanted to be an archeologist, and now has the opportunity in his own back yard.
He's one of a handful of locals hired for this excavation. He's found arrow heads, stone tools, and buffalo bones. "Most of the stuff we do dig up in a traditional sense is supposed to stay in the ground, but I kind of look beyond that and see the knowledge we can gather for everybody else here for everybody else to see."
Archeologist consultants with Bison Historical Services were hired for this project. The province's Heritage Resource Act requires an impact assessment to be done before the road is built.
Sean Goldsmith says there are six dig sites where people were living in prehistoric times before Europeans came to North America. They are finding items here ranging from 200 to 7,000 years old. "Even though the things we are digging up here aren't the remains of my own cultural ancestors, it's all part of the human story. It tells us about how people lived in the past."
This archaeological dig is expected to continue throughout the summer, and Alberta Transportation hopes to start construction on the new Highway 1A in 2010.
All the artifacts will go to the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton.
It's not known whether they'll be put up for public viewing, but it's hoped some will go on display in Morley some day.
