Archaeologica.org

Oilsands activity has uncovered vast wealth of a different kind -- a 10,000-year-old quarry rich with tools and weapons from some of the first Albertans, including a pristine spearpoint still smeared with the blood of a woolly mammoth

TransCanada PipeLines has rerouted a line to avoid the site. Shell Canada has altered plans in the area.

For the First Nations plains people who inhabited the reaches of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, growing cultural sophistication was not merely the result of European contact, but was rather an indigenous development, suggests a Canadian archaeological review.

A new archaeological study published by the Canadian academic suggests that the ancestors of modern First Nations people living on the Plains were more sophisticated than previously thought

For a good part of the 16th century, the Basques engaged in the whaling
industry on Canada's East Coast. Years of archival research by historical
geographer Dr. Selma Barkham helped identify Red Bay, Labrador, as a site of
intense Basque activity. Red Bay was the largest shore whaling station, where
vestiges of the Basque presence tell a compelling story of commerce and
courage.
Artifacts profiled in the report include four galeones or naos
(ocean-going vessels), one of which is believed to be the San Juan that sunk
in 1565. Using pioneering techniques, the San Juan was systemically excavated,
raised and recorded in pieces on the surface, reburied and monitored ever
since in order to ensure its preservation for centuries to come.
"This report describes the most comprehensive underwater archaeological
research project ever undertaken in North America, an invaluable addition to
the subject," continued Mr. Doyle. "Our Government appreciates the support
received from the residents of the Red Bay area, numerous international
experts in the field and the Basque Province of Gipuzkoa."

Alberta is a heck of a long way from Red Bay