Editing Oil sands (section)

==History==
{{See also| History of the petroleum industry in Canada (oil sands and heavy oil)}}

The use of bituminous deposits and [[Petroleum seep|seeps]] dates back to [[Paleolithic]] times.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Bilkadi | first = Zayn | title = Bitumen&nbsp;– A History | newspaper = Saudi Aramco World | pages = 2–9 | date = November–December 1984 | url = http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198406/bitumen.-.a.history.htm | access-date =1 January 2011 }}</ref> The earliest known use of bitumen was by [[Neanderthal]]s, some 40,000&nbsp;years ago. Bitumen has been found adhering to [[stone tool]]s used by Neanderthals at sites in Syria. After the arrival of [[Homo sapiens]], humans used bitumen for construction of buildings and waterproofing of [[reed boat]]s, among other uses. In ancient Egypt, the use of bitumen was important in preparing [[Mummy|mummies]].<ref>{{cite web| last=Hirst | first=K. Kris | title=Bitumen&nbsp;– A Smelly but Useful Material of Interest | work=Archaeology | publisher=About.com | year=2009 | url=http://archaeology.about.com/od/bcthroughbl/qt/bitumen.htm | access-date=23 October 2009 }}</ref>

In ancient times, bitumen was primarily a [[Mesopotamian]] commodity used by the [[Sumer]]ians and [[Babylonia]]ns, although it was also found in the [[Levant]] and [[Persia]]. The area along the [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates river]]s was littered with hundreds of pure bitumen seepages. The Mesopotamians used the bitumen for waterproofing boats and buildings. In Europe, they were extensively mined near the French city of [[Merkwiller-Pechelbronn|Pechelbronn]], where the vapour separation process was in use in 1742.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.musee-du-petrole.com/page14.htm |language=fr |title=Pechelbronn petroleum museum |access-date=30 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312034759/http://www.musee-du-petrole.com/page14.htm |archive-date=12 March 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1880/02/23/98888884.pdf |title=The oil wells of Alsace |date=23 February 1880| access-date =11 February 2012}}</ref>

In Canada, the [[First Nations in Canada|First Nation]] peoples had used bitumen from seeps along the [[Athabasca River|Athabasca]] and [[Clearwater River (Alberta)|Clearwater River]]s to waterproof their [[birch bark]] [[canoe]]s from early prehistoric times. The Canadian oil sands first became known to Europeans in 1719 when a [[Cree]] person named Wa-Pa-Su brought a sample to [[Hudson's Bay Company]] fur trader [[Henry Kelsey]], who commented on it in his journals. Fur trader Peter Pond paddled down the Clearwater River to Athabasca in 1778, saw the deposits and wrote of "springs of bitumen that flow along the ground". In 1787, fur trader and explorer [[Alexander Mackenzie (explorer)|Alexander MacKenzie]] on his way to the Arctic Ocean saw the Athabasca oil sands, and commented, "At about 24 miles from the fork (of the Athabasca and Clearwater Rivers) are some bituminous fountains into which a pole of 20 feet long may be inserted without the least resistance."<ref>{{Cite book| last=Mackenzie | first=Sir Alexander | year=1970 | title=The Journals and Letters of Alexander Mackenzie | editor=Lamb, W. Kaye | location=Cambridge | publisher=Hakluyt Society | page=129 | isbn=978-0-521-01034-4}}</ref>