Settling In - The Archaic Period (-8500 to -2500)

During the Archaic Period (8,500 to 2,500 years ago), the Ottawa Valley continued to undergo physical and environmental change. The Ottawa River gradually dropped to its current level, and over a period of five thousand years, forests consisting mainly of white pine became the mixed forests we know today (hemlock, white pine, hardwoods), which appeared around 3,500 years ago.

The people who lived in the region during that period made noticeable stylistic changes to their chipped-stone tools. They also used new materials and developed new techniques for working them, in particular stone pecking and grinding, and cold hammering of native copper.