August 12, 2023

Crawford Lake near Milton has long been the site of an educational conservation area where people can go to relax, exercise and learn about the indigenous past of the area. We have previously covered the story of the longhouses in the park and will only briefly touch on the subject in this post. For the full article, please see our story The Longhouse People of Crawford Lake.

The lake is back in the news the past few months for another reason. The same conditions that allowed the researchers to identify the civilization that once existed beside the lake are now being used for another purpose. Since the sediments at the bottom of the lake don’t get disturbed due to the depth of the lake compared to its surface area, individual years can be identified by dark and light bands in the core samples. Scientists are now contemplating creating a new epoch on the geological time scale to identify the start of a time when humanity has begun to effect the natural world. Beginning in the 1950s a layer of plutonium from nuclear weapons testing, microplastics and ash from burning fossil fuels has started to be observed. After nearly 12,000 years of the Holocene epoch, which began at the end of the last ice age, they are thinking of creating a new epoch known as the Anthropocene epoch. This epoch is named after humanity. One site is chosen somewhere in the world to identify the start of each of the previous epochs and now Crawford Lake is being chosen to mark the start of this new one. These marker sites are known as the Golden Spike and other locations around the world will be measured against the time scale found at Crawford Lake.

In the early 2000s scientists started using the term Anthropocene to identify the period when humanity started to alter the planet on a global scale. It lacked a global geological definition until 2009 when a committee started to look for an indicator site. Out of 12 possible locations they have chosen Crawford Lake to be the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the potential new epoch. Each summer the lakes PH and warm temperature cause crystals to develop that fall to the lake bed and lay undisturbed. These form layers that can be counted fairly precisely like rings on a tree. The image below shows a magnification of a section of one of the core samples taken from the bottom of the lake.

Not all scientists agree that the Anthropocene started in the 1950s or that it should even be an epoch at all. While the creation of a new epoch is still up for debate, there’s no doubt about the earlier presence of a human culture beside Crawford Lake. The many pieces of pottery and arrow heads that have been found at the site make for an interesting visit lo the conservation area.

Four longhouses have been recreated in a small village to illustrate life at Crawford Lake in the time period just before the Europeans arrived and changed everything forever. Out of over 10,000 artifacts that have been discovered on the site a wide variety are on display in the village. The meromictic nature of Crawford Lake was instrumental in the discovery of this village because of the corn pollen that was found in soil samples taken from the bottom of the lake. Since the bottom of the lake is undisturbed, it was possible to determine when people were living near it and growing corn for food crops. This story is further developed in our previous post.

The trail system at Crawford Lake is connected to the Bruce Trail by the Crawford Lake Side Trail. The 232 acres in the conservation area are full of trails and we previously explored several of them in our post Crawford Lake Trails.

There are various large wooden carvings along the trail that leads from the longhouses to the lake. These depict various species that are at risk in Ontario. There are seven carvings along the Hide and Seek trail that illustrate some of the over 200 species that are at risk in the province.

The trail around Crawford Lake is just under 1.5 kilometres and is suitable for everyone as it is modest in difficulty. As we were making our way around we paused to let a family pass us that were taking a loved one for a walk in his wheelchair.

Crawford Lake is an ideal place for a visit and carries a small entry fee but is a fun outing in any season.

Related stories: The Longhouse People Of Crawford Lake, Crawford Lake Trails,

Google Maps Link: Crawford Lake

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