At the end of the Ice Age, small groups of hunter-gatherers crossed from Siberia to Alaska and opened the last chapter in the human settlement of the earth. Many left little or no trace. But one group – the Early Paleo-Indians – exploded suddenly on the archaeological record about 11,500 years ago and expanded rapidly throughout North America and, eventually, into South America.
Why was this group so successful? To understand this, we need to know how they coped with change and different Ice Age environments. This book, by archaeologist and curator Peter Storck, focuses on the challenges faced by the Early Paleo-Indians of northeastern North America. A revealing, autobiographical account, Journey to the Ice Age is at once a captivating record of Storck’s archaeological discoveries, as well as an introduction to the practice, challenges, and spirit of archaeology.
Whether you’re in your teens or in your 80s, if you’ve ever wanted to roll back the present and see the landscape of the past, this book is sure to delight you. Designed to take readers on their own journey to the Ice Age, the book includes a guided tour across ancient beaches, through glacially scoured valleys, and up into formerly remote highlands – places evocative of another geological epoch and which contain hidden traces of Southern Ontario’s, and Canada’s, founding peoples. Of interest to both professional and amateur, student and teacher, specialist and novice, this personal, often evocative, account is bound to satisfy anyone who’s ever yearned to ask an archaeologist: How do you know where to dig? Why do you do what you do? Or what does it all mean?
