Palaeontology
Palaeontology is the study of prehistoric species, mostly ones that are extinct.
Palaeontologist is a scientist who studies plants and animals that lived millions years ago. Palaeontologist studies the remains of these ancient organisms or living things. It helps them to understand our climate and our planets history.
Fossils are remains of ancient organisms or living things that are preserved in rocks or permafrost.
Permafrost is any ground that remains completely frozen for at least two years straight
Palaeontologist is a scientist who studies plants and animals that lived millions years ago. Palaeontologist studies the remains of these ancient organisms or living things. It helps them to understand our climate and our planets history.
Fossils are remains of ancient organisms or living things that are preserved in rocks or permafrost.
Permafrost is any ground that remains completely frozen for at least two years straight
This shows the mastodon ivory tusks before being cut up for beads. They're tremendously heavy, each one being about all a man can lift. This was taken at Whitehorse in the spring of 1922. (Yukon Archives)
http://www.tc.gov.yk.ca/digitization/public/search_detail.php?imageId=140845 |
Klondike trophies. View of three men posing next to a mastodon tusk and two sets of moose horns. (Yukon Archives)
http://www.tc.gov.yk.ca/digitization/public/search_detail.php?imageId=138824# |
Palaeontology and mining for GOLD
Fossils are very hard to find and they need special tools to be removed from rocks and permafrost. Palaeontologist in Yukon get an extra help from Yukon Placer Miners. When the miners discover an ancient creature while exploring for GOLD, they call a Palaeontologist.
Placer Miners use water to melt permafrost which helps unveil many creatures.
Placer Miners use water to melt permafrost which helps unveil many creatures.
In June 2022, a frozen baby woolly mammoth was discovered in Yukon gold fields:
You can find many articles online about this discovery. Some of them are attached below, click on the links if you want to learn more.
Click on the picture below to read more about palaeontology and see fossils from ice age
More than 70% of fossils in Yukon are found thanks to mining.
Archaeology
Archaeology is the study of an ancient and recent human past through material remains.
Archaeologist is a scientist who studies the past and what was left behind by humans 100's or 1000's years ago, such as tools and buildings. They try to understand what people of the past were like and how they lived.
Yukon Miles Canyon in Whitehorse isn't a very old archaeological site, but has exciting remains from the Yukon Gold Rush in 1896. It is easy to get to just by hiking.
Other sites are much older, buried deep in the ground and require an excavation (to dig).
Archaeologist is a scientist who studies the past and what was left behind by humans 100's or 1000's years ago, such as tools and buildings. They try to understand what people of the past were like and how they lived.
Yukon Miles Canyon in Whitehorse isn't a very old archaeological site, but has exciting remains from the Yukon Gold Rush in 1896. It is easy to get to just by hiking.
Other sites are much older, buried deep in the ground and require an excavation (to dig).
Archaeology and support for Yukon First Nation and miners
Yukon Archaeologists help Yukoners, Yukon First Nations and miners by identifying and exploring sides before they do. This way they protect special places to our history and heritage, learn about people in the past, and support miners to explore and build mines.
Click on the picture below to see short article about archaeology
Archaeological discovery and mining
In the summer of 2011, archaeologists made an exciting discovery doing a heritage assessment for the Casino Mining Project on the proposed Freegold Road. They unearthed a Chinese coin minted between 1667 and 1671.
The coin indicates that there may have been trade between Chinese people and Yukon First Nation people through Russian and coastal Tlingit trade during the late 17th and 18th centuries and perhaps as early as the 15th century. The coin is made of copper and zinc. |
Archaeology in Yukon
Archaeological sites in the Yukon contain some of the earliest evidence of human occupation in the New World.
There are almost 3,000 known archaeological sites in the Yukon, spanning the years from the Ice Age to the construction of Alaska Highway. They may consist of simple scatters of stone chips, ancient hearths, Gold Rush artifacts or World War II aircraft wreck.
Recent research in the alpine of southwestern Yukon has recovered an exceptionally well preserved collection of ancient spears and arrows emerging from melting snow fields. These finds are unique in Canadian archaeology and have provided new and exciting insights into the hunting strategies of the past 8,000 years.
There are almost 3,000 known archaeological sites in the Yukon, spanning the years from the Ice Age to the construction of Alaska Highway. They may consist of simple scatters of stone chips, ancient hearths, Gold Rush artifacts or World War II aircraft wreck.
Recent research in the alpine of southwestern Yukon has recovered an exceptionally well preserved collection of ancient spears and arrows emerging from melting snow fields. These finds are unique in Canadian archaeology and have provided new and exciting insights into the hunting strategies of the past 8,000 years.
Click on the picture below to see more about archaeology in Yukon and few pictures from the archeological sites.