Cliche-Rancourt - Site description

Welcome to the Cliche-Rancourt site
The oldest known archaeological site in Quebec.

This is the only site in Quebec where fragments of fluted points have been found. They are about 12 000 years old. This site has been excavated because Jean Cliche, a local resident and great archaeology enthusiast, introduced us to the region’s enormous archaeological potential. The owner of several lots of land along the Lac aux Araignées, Lac des Joncs, and Lake Megantic, he and his spouse, Catherine Rancourt, harvested numerous signs of human presence, including some dating back at least 8 000 years. The couple has been credited with the discovery of about 30 sites on the edges of these three lakes. These discoveries are the reason why this site was chosen to found the Université de Montréal's École de fouilles préhistoriques (school of prehistoric excavations).

In 2002, one week was dedicated to assessing a site designated by the code name BiEr-14. This site had caught our attention due to its high altitude terrace, diversity of materials, and geographical position (see site location). Although located on property belonging to Jean Cliche, the site had not been discovered yet. In the end, the BiEr-14 site proved to be the École de fouilles préhistoriques’s main research site in the Megantic corridor between 2003 and 2009, and it became known as the Cliche-Rancourt site.