The Maritimes

Archaeologists now generally agree that man first entered the New World via the "Beringia" land bridge over 25,000 years ago  (figure). During the late Pleistocene, these early arrivals adapted rapidly to the periglacial conditions first encountered in the New World. The search for food and raw material resources resulted in the southward movement of people along an ice-free corridor between the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets into the heart of the continent. There is carbon-14 dated evidence of human presence throughout most regions of North and South America by 10,000 to 12,000 years ago (figure). Eastern Canada was no exception.

Most of the Maritimes was ice-free 10,000-11,000 years ago. At that time, the expanse of land, particularly along the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, was greater than now, because the ocean levels were lower. Today, the once exposed broad coastal areas lie under as much as 20 to 40 m of water. This physiographic difference was most dramatically illustrated in the land bridge between Prince Edward Island and the mainland, here referred to as Northumbria (figure). Palaeo-botanical evidence at this early Holocene period points to a boreal forest or tundra-like landscape, with spruce as the dominant tree species.

The First Maritimers
The Adena Mystery
Life near the Water
The Historic Period Begins