Curse of the Axe tells the story of a recent archaeological discovery that will fundamentally change viewers' understanding of North American life before the arrival of the Europeans. A team of world-renowned archaeologists has unearthed the largest and most complex Huron First Nations village ever found.
The village, which they dub 'Mantle', contains 90 longhouses surrounded by a high, defensive three-row wooden wall, or "palisade" that required the Hurons to cut down 60,000 trees - using only stone axes! Beyond the walls the Huron cultivated 80 square kilometers of cornfields (larger than present-day Metropolitan Toronto) - enough to feed its thousands of inhabitants.
But the revelations – and the mysteries - do not end with the village itself. Compounding the mystery of this remarkable discovery is a second, shocking discovery.
During the excavation, a mysterious metal object is found, buried with great care and respect. It is made of iron – a material totally alien to the Huron.
The object is believed to be some kind of blade, perhaps once part of an axe. But the stunning discovery raised more questions than it answered. How did a piece of European iron get to Mantle almost 100 years before the arrival of the first Europeans in this part of the world? Where did it come from? And why did the people of Mantle bury it?
