Released on: March 4, 2008, 8:53 am

Press Release Author: Dave Bishop

Industry: Environment

Press Release Summary: While divers were conducting a unique submarine project in
MacDonald Lake at the Haliburton Forest and Wild Life Reserve, they encountered an
ancient stone structure revealing proof of life from Central Ontario ancestors.

Press Release Body: The history of Eastern Canada is generally viewed in two stages:
1st - recent history, measured in decades and centuries, involving the early, white
settlers and 2nd - the early history, measured in many centuries and millennia,
represented by petroglyphs, stone mounds and arrow heads that takes us several
hundred, sometimes a thousand or two years back into North America's native past.

A third stage may now have to be added: the ancient past, when the landscape hardly
resembled the forest clad hills of today and the environment was just recovering
from thousands of years of glaciation. Some ten thousand years ago, human
populations were not measured in thousands or even millions like today, but dozens,
or at best hundreds. Even this handful of ancestors managed to leave us proof of
their existence. In a cold lake in remote Central Ontario a possible artifact has
been recently discovered.

In the spring of 2005, diving was conducted in MacDonald Lake as part of a unique
submarine project at the acclaimed Haliburton Forest and Wild Life Reserve
(http://www.haliburtonforest.com). Haliburton Forest is a premiere Ontario
attraction, well known for its commitment to education, wildlife and the
environment. Repeatedly staff of Haliburton Forest would stumble upon an unusual
stone structure, perched on top of a rock ledge at a depth of 40 feet below the
present lake level. Initially the structure was considered a complex version of a
"perched erratic", those monstrous rocks, ferried by the glaciers thousands of years
ago and dumped where they happened to melt at the end of one of the recent
cold-freezes. From across northern North America, examples of compound perched
erratics are known, where 2 or even 3 rocks happened to land on top of each other,
leaving behind a natural structure. Initially, this is what was considered to be the
origin of the Haliburton Forest mystery rock formation. When several geologists and
archaeologists saw images of this object - a 1,000 pound, elongated and south
pointing rock sitting on baseball-sized stones at each end, which in turn, were
resting on a massive, several thousand pound slab on top of the ledge, they
expressed doubts about its natural origin. Foremost, the straight edges and lack of
roundness, as would characterize rocks scoured by glaciers, prompted them to discard
the erratic theory. But could the structure be of human origin? If so, how could
that be established?

Haliburton Forest engaged the services of an underwater archaeologist to examine
the structure. Before diving, he explained that so far he had never encountered
man-made rock-cairns, which were stabilized without the help of shim-stones. If he
found these, it would convince him of the structure's man-made, not natural,
origin. After a 30 minute dive examining the rock assembly closely and carefully,
taking pictures along the way, the expert emerged with his unequivocal conclusion:
the existence of 3 shims was proof to him that the assembly of now seven rocks was
the result of human activity and not a fluke of nature. Subsequently, Haliburton
Forest turned to the services of a statistician to calculate the probability of 7
rocks falling on top of each other creating a "structure". Albeit difficult to
assess, he reported back that even 4 rocks creating a natural structure was almost
unattainable, but that the probability of 7 rocks hitting at the right time and
place was virtually impossible. But who, and especially when was the structure
erected? What was its purpose? Subsequent dives closely examined the structure for
any signs of the use of tools, decorative images or other irregularities - to no
avail. The thick layer of silt covering the vertical surfaces suggests that
certainly within living memory no human has ever touched the structure.

Biologists and geologists weighed in to assist the puzzled archaeologists. The
geologists pointed to a dramatic drought, which gripped Eastern North America
between 9000 and 7000 BC. Conditions were so dry during that time that lake levels
in the Great Lakes were up to 50 meters lower and inland lakes, like McDonald Lake,
which were still fed by spring melt and summer rain water, were assumed several
dozen feet lower than their present water levels. And why then, at a time when so
few humans roamed Ontario, would they pick remote MacDonald Lake for a stone cairn,
especially such a large, elaborate one? Here is where the biologist pointed to the
conclusion of his 30 years of research: McDonald Lake is home to an ancient, glacial
relic lake trout, which had survived several bouts of glaciation and retained unique
features, which allowed it to survive, where other fish had perished. From his
records, he could also add that McDonald Lake, in prehistoric times was not a lake,
but part and north-westerly end-point of an ancient river system which, for
millennia, funnelled glacial meltwater south into what was then mighty Lake Agassis.

Many visitors to Haliburton Forest who have seen images of the rock cairn have
commented on its balanced, almost attractive appearance. The surface of the top rock
is almost perfectly level. Many have pointed out the many similarities between the
MacDonald Lake stone structure and an artic "inukshuk". The environment in the far
north resembles what Central Ontario may have looked like after the retreat of the
ice many thousands of years ago. The MacDonald Lake inukshuk sits at the edge of a
deep ledge, pointing to the deepest hole in the entire chain of lakes, today some
150 feet deep. At times of dramatically lower lake levels, was this the pool where
the ancient trout retreating to?

While many questions remain, it is very intriguing to imagine a small band of early
humans, camped on the shores of a remote lake where today modern man camps and
catches trout, just as his ancestors did thousands of years ago. The story of the
MacDonald Lake stone structure adds a new dimension to resource use and stewardship
in Ontario.


Haliburton Forest & Wildlife Reserve features wilderness adventure activities
including the Wolf Centre, the Walk in the Clouds forest canopy tour, groomed
snowmobile trails, mountain biking, dogsledding, hiking, astronomy, wildlife
observation, as well as wilderness camping and accommodations. For more
information, please visit http://www.haliburtonforest.com or call Dave Bishop at
705-754-2198.

Web Site: http://www.haliburtonforest.com

Contact Details: Contact Information:
Dave Bishop
Haliburton Forest & Wildlife Reserve
RR #1
Haliburton ON K0M 1S0
705-754-2198
705-754-1179 Fax
dbishop@haliburtonforest.com
http://www.haliburtonforest.com