Narrated by Robbie Robertson of the legendary music group The Band, Curse of the Axe unfolds like the best page-turning detective story. Through a combination of rich dramatic recreations, high-end CGI and a riveting documentary investigation, Curse of the Axe plunges viewers back in time 500 years to early 16th Century Canada – revealing an extraordinary world that pre-dates the arrival of the Europeans by nearly a hundred years.Curse of the Axe tells the story ofone of the most important archaeologicaldiscoveries of modern times, a discovery which will fundamentally change viewers’ understanding of North American life.

A team of world-renowned archaeologists have unearthed the largest and most complex Huron Indian village ever found: ‘Mantle. The archaeologists who discovered it are now confronted by a series of mysteries – Who were these people? Where did they come from? And what happened to them?  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. Dr. Ron Williamson and his team lead the investigation to find answers to this remarkable, puzzling story, embarking on a journey from the north shore of Lake Ontario, to the east coast of North America, and finally to the forges of Europe.

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? The discovery of this axe has the archeological world baffled, and is now rewriting the history books. Did the people of Mantle really beleive they had received a symbolic warning of what was to come a century later: a shadow that would soon change everything and plunge their world into darkness.

Winner of the Silver Hugo Award for Best Documentary at the Chicago International Film Festival