Sheguiandah is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...

and

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...

. It is located on the northwestern shore of

Manitoulin Island Manitoulin Island is an island in Lake Huron, located within the borders of the Canadian province of Ontario, in the bioregion known as Laurentia. With an area of , it is the largest lake island in the world, large enough that it has over 100 ...

Manitoulin District Manitoulin District is a district in Northeastern Ontario within the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1888 from part of the Algoma District. The district seat is in Gore Bay. It comprises Manitoulin Island primarily, as well as a ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. The site has remains from 9000 years of occupation, from the Paleo-Indian period through the Archaic period until the

Middle Woodland period In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeolog ...

. Throughout this time, the people of the area travelled to the site to quarry from its

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...

outcroppings for use in toolmaking. It was originally discovered in 1951 by Thomas E. Lee, who found artifacts in surface collections indicating the site was ancient. He led excavation teams for the next four years. Based on the artifacts they found, he estimated the earliest occupation date of about 30,000 years BP. He noted there were Paleo-Indian and Archaic artifacts, primarily scrapers and blades, dating to about 12,000 BP. Public interest in the finds contributed to passage of legislation in 1953 to protect archeological sites in Ontario. The site was designated as a

in 1954. It was listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places in 2009. The ancestors of Native American populations from the tip of Chile in the south to Canada in the north, migrated from Asia in at least three waves. The site was studied later by other teams of specialists. In 1992 archeologist Peter L. Storck and

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

Patrick Julig led a team doing additional excavations. Drawing on new material from botany and related disciplines, they concluded that a more conservative estimate of age was justified, and estimated the site was almost certainly occupied 9,500 years BP by Paleo-Indians, making it still highly significant in North American archaeology and the archaeology of Ontario. They said that more research needed to be done.Patrick Julig and Peter Storck, Chapters 4 and 5, ''The Sheguiandah Site: Archaeological, Geological and Paleobotanical Studies at a Paleoindian Site on Manitoulin Island, Ontario'', ed. Patrick Julig (2002), Toronto: Canadian Museum of Civilization.

References

Archaeological sites in Ontario National Historic Sites in Ontario Canadian Register of Historic Places in Ontario {{NorthAm-native-stub