Archaeologists have discovered a 14,000-year-old village, thought to be one of the oldest human settlements in North America.

Artefacts including tools for lighting fires, fish hooks and spears dating back from the Ice Age, were found during an excavation of a remote island in British Columbia, Canada.

The dig took place on a rocky spit on Triquet Island, 500 kilometres northwest of Victoria.

It is estimated that the village is older than Egypt’s pyramids, according to The Independent.

Anthropology PhD student Alisha Gauvreau, from the University of Victoria, took part in the dig.



She told CTV Vancouver Island News: ‘I remember when we get the dates back and we just kind of sat there going, ‘Holy Moly, this is old’.
‘What this is doing is just changing our idea of the way in which North America was first peopled.’

A large human migration may have occurred on the coastline of British Columbia, according to experts.

But Heiltsuk Nation’s oral traditions also tell stories of ancient coastal villages.

And these have been passed down for generations.

William Housty, from the Heiltsuk Nation, said: ‘To think about how these stories survived all of that, only to be supported by this archaeological evidence is just amazing.’