CRAWFORD LAKE- WHERE WE HAVE MANY STORIES TO TELL

The name chosen for the Village in the Crawford Lake catchment, by Wendat and Wyandot Chiefs and Faithkeepers and Citizens of the Wendat Confederacy Nations, who were members of the Wendat/Wyandot Women's Advisory Council working with Professor Kathryn Labelle in 2014 on the Daughters of Aataentsic book project, is ‘kionywarihwaen' - "where we have a story to tell", but more literally "where our matter/affair is lying down". Paleolimnological and geoarchaeological investigations of the sediments of this unique lake that occupies a sinkhole in the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario, Canada reveal its evolution since ice sheets retreated, most notably in response to human impact over the last millennium. Varved sediments began accumulating below the chemocline of this meromictic lake when Three Sisters agriculture was introduced to the area in the late 13^th century, providing annual resolution for several settlement intervals over more than two centuries, followed three centuries later by land clearing and lumbering by European colonists, including George Crawford who established a sawmill that operated in the last quarter of the 19^th century. His grandsons sold the land to Conservation Halton in 1969 and shortly thereafter, paleolimnological investigations began, primarily led by researchers from the University of Toronto and Brock University. The lake attracted international interest when it was proposed as the ‘golden spike’ to define the Anthropocene as an epoch of geologic time in 2023, featured at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, and type and paratype cores are curated at the Canadian Museum of Nature and the Royal Ontario Museum, where exhibits are planned. Public outreach has been the primary focus of the Crawford Lake Conservation Area for more than 50 years and a new visitor centre, whose design is being overseen by renowned Canadian architect Douglas Cardinal who is a member of the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation, will house exhibits related to the lake, people, and land over time, including the story of the Anthropocene. This history is being documented in a graphic novel-style book that is intended to capture the imagination of elementary school aged children and provide detailed information for their parents/ educators.... or for them to refer to when they are older.