Archaeologists, geologists and other scientists offer a different account of how people came to this region. As the Laurentide and Cordilleran glaciers began to retreat, they separated. This opened up land along the eastern slopes of the Rockies to human inhabitants. At present there are many theories as to when and how these people reached Alberta. What archaeology can show is that by at least 11,500 - 12,000 years ago human beings inhabited parts of what we now call Alberta.
Many people think of Alberta as being a new society or having little history.
This is not true. The oldest human sites in Alberta are more than twice as old the oldest Egyptian pyramid and nearly five times as old as the Parthenon, the most famous Greek temple. This means that Alberta s First Nations have a very long and rich history in this area. Most archaeologists and historians would probably agree that a history of 12,000 years or more is much the same thing as having always been here. The first European fur trader to reach Alberta and leave an account of the people he met was Anthony Henday in 1754 about 250 years ago.