Walker Minnesota Stone ToolArchaeological treasure found Up North

Atop the highest hill in Walker, Minn., archaeologists have found what they believe to be evidence of the oldest human habitation in the state — perhaps 13,000 to 14,000 years old.

From the rough stone tools that were found, archaeologists are speculating that “we’re looking at certainly the relatively earliest occupants of the North American continent,” said Matt Mattson, a biologist and archaeologist who worked on the project for the Leech Lake Heritage Sites Program, which is based near Cass Lake.

They would be related to those who, according to conventional wisdom, came across the Bering Strait from Asia, Mattson said.

Britta Bloomberg, Minnesota’s deputy historic preservation officer, said it may be among the oldest known archaeological sites in North and South America.

… The stone tools found at Walker could have been used by big game hunters for butchering, chopping or scraping toward the end of the Ice Age.

Mattson speculated that the site could have been used by an extended family of 10 to 15 nomadic people moving through an “oasis,” in what is now north-central Minnesota, that was as close as five miles to remaining glaciers.

[Star Tribune]

See also KARE-11.