August 23, 2006 Source: :
http://communications.uvic.ca/releases/release.php?display=release&id=750 Student & Teachers to Have New Mysteries to Solve The location of a mysterious Viking settlement, the enduring question of who really was first to strike gold in the Klondike, and the identity of a mystery man washed ashore in Acadia will be the next mysteries presented to online sleuths on Canada’s popular historical mystery website. "Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History," based at the University of Victoria, will receive $492,000 from the federal Department of Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Culture Online Program to develop the new website additions. The latest installments will let student sleuths and their teachers do a virtual fly-over of an ancient Viking settlement, the Klondike gold fields and a 19th century Acadian village. "Students and teachers heading back to class will soon have even more ways to discover how rich and exciting Canadian history can be," says UVic historian John Lutz who is the co-director of the bilingual website. "By incorporating the latest technology and drawing on archival documents, renditions of excavated artifacts and personal correspondence, we can give website visitors the true sense of experiencing history first-hand." The new websites will be:
"Where is Vinland?": About a thousand years ago, after landing on the shores of North America, the Vikings visited an area so lush and warm it could sustain a grape harvest. But the Vikings weren’t the first settlers. After a skirmish with people who arrived in seal skin canoes, the Vikings departing leaving a mystery in their wake—where was the settlement they called Vinland? "The Mystery Man of Baie Saint Marie": In September 1863, the tiny Acadian community of Meteghan, Nova Scotia was shocked to discover that a legless man had washed up on their beach. Still alive, he was nursed back to health but could only utter three words: Jerome, Trieste and Colombo. The mystery man was taken in by the townspeople who also profited from his presence by putting him on display as a tourist attraction. They were never able to determine the man’s true identity or the circumstances that led to his discovery. "Who Discovered Klondike Gold": George Carmack is largely credited with starting the Klondike gold rush by announcing to a crowded Alaskan bar that he had discovered gold along the Yukon River. But who really made the discovery? Carmack was prospecting with his Aboriginal wife and her family members. They told others they found the gold but decided it was safer to send a white man into civilization with the news. Still other accounts credit another prospector. Who’s telling the truth? The new websites will also incorporate the "Mysteryquest" feature, introduced earlier this year, which offers teachers assignments based on the mysteries for younger students. "Our aim is to teach the skills of a historian to students as young as middle school age and then make the tasks more complex as they progress through to high school and university," says Lutz. "This way Canadian youth will have a better knowledge and appreciation of Canadian history." There are currently six unsolved mysteries on the website. Visit them at www.canadianmysteries.ca --30-- Media Contacts:
John Lutz (History) at (250) 721-7392 or jlutz@uvic.ca
Patty Pitts (UVic Communications) at (250) 721-7656 or ppitts@uvic.ca
| 