A Reservoir in Alberta Dropped 10 Metres — What Was Printed on the Bottom Shocked Scientists

Ancient Canada reveals one of the most extraordinary Ice Age sites ever discovered in Alberta: a reservoir dropped roughly 10 metres and exposed an ancient surface covered with mammoth, camel, horse, bison and caribou footprints. The discovery happened at the Saint Mary Reservoir in southern Alberta during the 1990s, when water levels were lowered for construction work. What appeared beneath the reservoir was not simply an old lake bed. It was a landscape from around 13,000 years ago, preserved beneath sediment and later hidden underwater for decades. A local schoolteacher named Shayne Tolman was among the first to recognize what was emerging. He initially discovered stone points and ancient animal remains, eventually collecting thousands of artifacts and bones before scientists began studying the exposed surface in detail. Then researchers noticed enormous round depressions running across the ground. Some measured around 60 centimetres across and formed clear trackways. They were mammoth footprints — part of the only properly documented Ice Age tracksite of its kind in Canada. The tracks preserved moments that skeletons never could. One adult mammoth walked beside a small calf whose shorter steps suggest it was hurrying to keep up. Other trackways belonged to western camels, extinct horses, ancient bison and caribou, showing that several large species crossed the same landscape near the end of the Ice Age. Scientists also used the sizes of mammoth footprints to estimate the ages of animals in the herd. Young mammoths made up only around 30% of the measurable population, considerably fewer than expected in a healthy modern elephant herd. Researchers suggested this could indicate that the mammoth population was already under pressure centuries before its disappearance, although the tracks cannot reveal exactly why. Humans were present on this landscape as well. Bones of extinct horses and a western camel preserve cut marks and other evidence of butchery, with stone tools found nearby. The evidence shows people processed these animals around 13,000 years ago, although it cannot prove whether they hunted them or encountered the carcasses afterward. In this video, we explore how lowering an Alberta reservoir exposed an entire Ice Age landscape, what thousands of years of sediment preserved beneath the water, what mammoth footprints revealed about a declining herd, and why the site disappeared beneath the reservoir once again. #AncientCanada #CanadaHistory #IceAge #PrehistoricCanada #Archaeology ⚠️ Some visuals are illustrative. Certain materials may be used under Fair Use for commentary and educational purposes.