The ancient Athabascans

A brief history of 8,000 years of habitation

Archeological evidence suggests that the Athabasca Lake region has been inhabited by people for at least 8,000 years. During that time, climatic fluctuations have had an impact on the living conditions in the region which in turn altered the traditional patterns of the inhabitants.

A projectile point found on one of the hikes through the duens. This was located well away from any area that might have been used as a chipping station or a campsite. Probably the point either fell out of a hunter's pack or was embeded in an animal that escaped the hunters and died later in the dunes.

It seems clear that the first visitors to the region were probably following the herds of migrating caribou which today still over-winter in this area every year. At one point in time, the cold Arctic climate extended as far south as this area and the central Arctic Inuit found the region suitable to their needs.

About 2,500 years ago, the treeline began to move farther north again as the climate warmed. At that time, it is believed that the ancestors of the Dene people who currently live in northern Saskatchewan moved into the area.

Lake Athabasca is a huge body of water and spans a signficant distance from east to west. Archeological evidence suggests that early residents at either end of the lake may have come from different cultures. On the east end of the lake, caribou-hunting people occupied the land. On the west side of the lake, the presence of bison meant that people accustomed to the northern plains cultures could subsist on what the land had to offer.

European fur traders first came to the area in the late 1700s. The first trading posts were established at the southwest end of the lake, near the Athabasca River. Records don't indicate if the early traders explored much of the lake and no indications of visits to the dunes area by the first traders survive today.

The first written records come from a surveyor for the Hudson's Bay company. Philip Turnor's task was to find out more about the region in an effort to gain an advantage on the company's rival, the Northwest Company. There were rumours circulating that Lake Athabasca might provide a route to the Pacific Ocean.

It wasn't until a century later that pen would be set to paper to describe the sand dunes. J.B. Tyrell, a well-known Canadian explorer, reported on the region for as part of a paper commissioned by the Geological Survey of Canada. Another famous Canadian explorer, David Thompson, also explored the eastern end of Lake Athabasca in the late 1700s.

While the sand dune region are a spectacular vision for modern visitors, they were an unproductive land for people engaged in subsistance living. It comes as no surprise, then, that habitation in this area has always been sparse. Today, there are modern communities along the east, west and north shores of the lake, but no permanent settlements exist along the south shore.