An archeological discovery near Timmins unearths thousands of Indigenous artifacts

Indigenous artifacts headed to Timmins Museum Thousands of Indigenous artifacts found more than five years ago in northern Ontario will soon be on their way to the Timmins Museum.

Timmins — An archeological discovery near Smooth Rock Falls, northwest of Timmins, is being called a major archeological deposit.

Thousands of ancient Indigenous artifacts were found on the banks of the Mattagami River at Yellow Falls.

An archeologist from New Liskeard oversaw the excavation from June to October 2015. The area was being prepared for the construction of a hydroelectric generating station.

“The waterfalls, with my conversations with First Nations people, seem to be imbued with … sacred significance and so that could be a reason why it’s not just a cursory, ephemeral type campsite," said Ryan Primrose, principal archeologist with Woodland Heritage Northeast.

"It’s a very complex site that looks like it could have had yearly occupation for, like I said, around 7,000 years or so."

Worked with Indigenous groups

Primrose worked with two Indigenous groups from the region: Mattagami First Nation and Taykwa Tagamou First Nation. He said they decided to ask the Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Centre to curate the artifacts.

“I really look forward to perhaps later in 2021, perhaps this might be available to the public and it’ll be a great addition to the museum and great for all First Nations people as well as you know everybody else," he said.

Timmins Museum curator Karen Bachmann is excited the museum has been asked to hold on to the collection and to keep it safe for the Indigenous groups who own the artifacts.

"So it’s definitely a partnership between all of our organizations and moving forward, it’s not one person over another; it’s not a curator who’s going to tell somebody how this is done, but very much all three of us working together," Bachmann said.

The artifacts are not expected to arrive at the museum until June or July. The plan is to have a special ceremony when there are fewer health protection measures in place.