4,600 year old burial site near Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation attracts attention
Press Release
Research Led by Lakehead University Archaeologist Receives International Attention
An archaeological team led by Dr. Scott Hamilton of Lakehead University's Department of Anthropology has recently made media headlines all over the world. Dr. Hamilton and his team members are working with the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation after a 4,600-year-old burial was discovered at the mouth of the Bug River, located on the south side of Big Trout Lake in northern Ontario.
It is reported that last fall, a group of fishermen came across the bones at a time when water levels were high, which caused the shoreline to erode and the burial site to become exposed.
Because the skeleton was found mostly intact from the knees and forearms upward, it was possible for team members to determine the remains are those of an adult male, likely in his late 30s or early 40s, and measuring at roughly 5' 5" in height with an extremely robust and muscular build.
This man would have lived during roughly the same period as when the Great Pyramids were being built in Egypt.
It is not known how this individual died, though he appears to have been given a formal burial. As Dr. Hamilton notes, a flat slab of granite is associated directly with the bones, and "It looks very much like a purposeful grave."
Learn more by reading Rare 4,600-year-old Ontario burial lifts lid on prehistoric Canada.
Last updated June 24, 2010