Most histories of Canada stress the recent past, from the arrival of Europeans to the present. Little, if any, consideration is given to the history of the ancient peoples who lived in Canada in the thousands of years before European contact. Ignoring the history of these native peoples robs us of its many valuable lessons. As we saw in the previous section, archaeologists are concerned with unraveling the secrets of the past--a past that in Canada extends far beyond the first written records of European contact. The "prehistory" of Canada is filled with the active lives of ancient peoples who spread over the country and adapted to their local environments. Climate and the natural environment have played a key role in preserving our past. For example, the cold, dry climate of the north and the layer of permafrost in the ground has basically "freeze-dried" artifacts in the same place ancient peoples left them thousands of years ago. These conditions have preserved toys, art, and other organic artifacts that might otherwise have been destroyed. In other areas, acidic soil, rising ocean or lake levels, high humidity, and human interference have caused many artifacts and potential archaeological sites to be lost forever. Only the barest evidence has been found for some groups of ancient peoples -- we know they existed, and not much else. In this section, you will learn a great deal about people you may never have heard of--the Ancient Peoples of Canada-- and the archaeological sites that reveal their lives.