For a very long time, they were just stories.

A handful of tales that painted a picture of long ago passed down from generation to generation

among the first nation's people who lived along the Pacific coast of British Columbia.

Stories of ancestors in the distant past living at the ocean's edge, fishing and hunting

and building their lives in partnership with nature.

And then, those stories became fact.

In 2017, archaeologists working on a small island called Trichette made a discovery that

brought modern scientific understanding in line with ancient folklore.

It was the remains of a human settlement, complete with fishing tools, spearheads for hunting,

and elaborate cooking pits.

It was when the charcoal from those pits was analyzed that the archaeologists realized just

how significant the site truly was.

It dated back over 14,000 years, making it the oldest known human settlement in North America.

But for lovers of oral history, ancestral folklore, and the narrative fibers that make us who

we are, it's confirmation of something else.

Sometimes the stories we tell actually turn out to be true.

In fact, it was the legends about those ancient communities that drew the researchers to the

island in the first place, which is something I can't help but get excited about, because

it shows just how valuable our collective folklore truly is, and that if we treat stories

with respect and give them the benefit of the doubt, they have the potential to unlock

forgotten pieces of our past.

And you probably don't need me to tell you that that's a good thing.

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