The Taber Child

An archeological find that started a firestorm of discussion

Taber is a small community in southern Alberta. It is most famous for the corn grown there. The large amount of sunshine the area receives makes it a perfect place to grow the crop and Taber bills itself as the Corn Capital of Canada.

Taber has a rich archeological history, with several fossils and skeletons found in the area. An extinct species of bison was even found near the community.

But the Taber Child was the most famous of them all.

In 1961, along the banks of the Oldman River near Taber, fragments of a human skull were recovered. The discovery was made by Dr. Archie Stalker, who was looking at the glacial deposits along the river.

As he surveyed, he saw the fragments poking out of the bank and assumed they were from an animal. He bagged the fragments and sent them off to Ottawa.

Wann Langston in Ottawa recognized them as parts of a skull and shoulder of a nine-month-old child.

The fragments were found in geological deposits that dated to 20,000 to 40,000 years ago. With the fragments being too small to carbon date at the time, it was believed the child’s bones dated to that period of time.

This was shocking to archeologists because at the time, it was believed humans arrived in North America about 12,000 years ago. Today, it is estimated that humans arrived 16,000 to 20,000 years ago.

Over the next few years, subsequent digs were done but no more bones were found.

Recently, measurements of bone protein and using a new accelerator radiocarbon technique indicated that the bone fragments dated to about 4,000 years ago, putting it well within the range of human arrival in the area.

It is now believed that the child died elsewhere and at some point, floated down the river and came to rest where it was found centuries later.