First Nation Rock Art

For the past two years, archaeologists with Parks Canada have been working closely with different Aboriginal communities to preserve, protect, and interpret different rock art sites in the vicinity of the National Parks in the Rocky Mountains. The ultimate goals of the project are to physically protect the sites using digital photography, cultural preservation using traditional knowledge, and communication of the information gathered. The biggest challenge for the project was the fact that many rock art sites are disappearing due to time, weather, vandalism, or some combination of the three. With the help of a digital enhancement technique, known as decorrelation stretch or DStretch, archaeologists are able to enhance images of pictographs for better interpretation and understanding.  

Pictographs are paintings that were created using a mixture of red ochre, a natural iron-based mineral, and animal fat. The mixture was painted onto rock faces to tell stories, describe journeys, and give warnings, among a host of other meanings. Petroglyphs are rock carvings that are created by removing a part of a rock's surface through a variety of techniques.  

If you've been following my blog you will have noticed that I enjoy searching for these sites and photographing what's left of them. Many of the sites are considered sacred so I don't take anything but photographs and leave the site completely undisturbed, as I don't mean any disrespect.

DStretch is a free plugin for ImageJ created by Jon Harman and is available for download on his website. ImageJ is an image processing and analysis program that is written in Java and is also free to download. I downloaded both ImageJ and the DStretch plugin to see if my photos of pictographs held any secrets. The results are below...

Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park, British Columbia

I was first introduced to these pictographs during a white-water rafting trip down the Adams River during our annual family vacation in the Shuswap area. The pictographs found on the canyon walls were most likely painted by the Shuswap people long before the arrival of Europeans. If you search nearby you can see depressions in the ground that are all that remain from kekulis, or pit houses, that were also built by the Shuswap people.

An animal shape painted on the canyon walls

The same photograph after being processed with DStretch

All that remains of the other pictographs in the canyon are red smudges

Unfortunately DStretch isn't a miracle worker and after processing very little can still be seen

Grotto Canyon, Alberta

These pictographs are between 500 and 1,500 years old. There are many interpretations as to how these pictographs arrived at this location. One popular theory is that they were created by the Hopi people who visited the area from their home region in present-day Arizona. The artwork depicts both human figures and animals and there is also one of the flute player known as Kokopelli, which is a traditional symbol of the Hopi people. It is believed that these pictographs are linked to the ones found near Grassi Lakes.

For additional information about the Grotto Canyon pictographs please read the story I wrote for the Calgary Guardian titled Paintings From The Past.

Extremely faded pictographs in Grotto Canyon

After processing triangle-bodied, anthropomorphic figures appear

Very faint

A human figure and the bent-over Kokopelli flute-player on the left

Unfortunately the pictographs in Grotto Canyon have been the victims of continued vandalism

A human figure with a spear hunting a line of animals

It's very hard to distinguish what this is

After processing an animal figure appears

Just a red smudge on the rock wall

This is still very hard to distinguish

Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park, Alberta

The Milk River Valley contains the largest concentration of First Nation rock art on the great plains of North America. There is evidence that the valley was inhabited as far back as 9,000 years ago and it is believed that the Blackfoot people created most of the artwork in the valley. This is just a sample of what can be seen in the valley. The rest of the artwork is only accessible by guided tour. I hope to get down there and take the tour in the near future.

Update: I was finally able to return to Writing-On-Stone in the summer of 2015 and was fortunate to take the guided tour. You can read all about it on my blog post here.

Petroglyphs carved into the cliffs

These appear to be guns and bullets

I think these are groups human figures separated by circles

A close-up of the triangle-shaped people

Grassi Lakes, Alberta

As mentioned above the pictographs located here are thought to be linked to the ones found in Grotto Canyon and created by the same people; the Hopi. These pictographs are thought to be more than 1,000 years old. One of the pictographs depicts a human-figure holding a large ring. It is believed that this represents a Medicine Man, which happens to be one of the most famous of Hopi legends. The Hopi people, along with many other First Nation groups, believe that Medicine Men were not only healers but were also considered to be seers and philosophers of their own tribes.

A faint human figure holding a small ring

It's definitely clearer after being processed

Another faint pictograph

Although it is much clearer I am still unsure what it is or what it represents

Another pictograph

This one might be some type of animal with large horns or antlers

Another human figure with a much larger ring. Could this be the Medicine Man?

The Medicine Man is very clear, but what about the figure to the right? Is that another human or is it an animal?

Blake Point in Magna Bay, Shuswap Lake, British Columbia

I stumbled across these pictographs on one of our annual Shuswap family vacations. Unfortunately I don't know any of the history about these pictographs. I am assuming they were painted by the Shuswap people. They are located right along the lakeshore and can be seen from the water.

Faint red paintings on the rocks

You get a better sense of the details after processing

Red smudges here and there

There looks to be both humans and animals here. Potentially even the sacred Thunderbird as well.

More red markings

This almost looks like a human/bird hybrid. A spirit symbol perhaps?

Very hard to see

Another human-type figure emerges, but I am unsure what the object is on the right

These could be paintings that represent people

The lower figure looks like a human, but the upper one appears to be a bird or a spirit perhaps

There are a lot of different paintings at this one spot

I am unsure what this one represents

Faded red paint on a white rock

This could be a large animal, like a moose, with a couple of human hunters above

Really tough to tell what's here

To me this looks like a human standing below the sun

Copper Island, Shuswap Lake, British Columbia

Again, I don't know any of the history about these pictographs and again I am assuming they were created by the Shuswap people. Most of them have been lost to time as only faint smudges remain. According to legend Ta Lana, the great bear, sleeps under the island in a large cave.

Faint red smudges on the steep walls of Copper Island

Even after processing all you can see is the fact something was painted here once

More faint pictographs

This could be a human-figure, but it's very hard to tell

Okotoks Erratic, Alberta

The paintings on the Big Rock near Okotoks are anywhere from hundreds to thousands of years old. The rock itself was used by the Blackfoot as a landmark for finding a crossing over the Sheep River before European settlers arrived. There are many legends associated with the rock, so please visit my post dedicated to the Big Rock for further information. According to Elders, the painting on the rock is, "a journey. The arrows point in the direction the people traveled (north), while the moons (circles - at left) tell the time it took to complete the trek. There are seventeen moons in all, it took seventeen months to complete the journey. The symbols and figures at the top of the pictograph painting indicate why the journey was made."

Many of the pictographs on the Big Rock have been badly damaged by repeated vandalism

After processing it still looks like a red smudge

Faint red paint

It still looks like a smear of red

Extremely unclear

Much clearer, but still indecipherable

Large painting under an overhang

This is the painting of the journey that is talked about above. You can see the arrows and the moons.

Cochrane Ranche Historic Site, Alberta

There is a single pictograph and a single petroglyph at the Cochrane Ranche Historic Site. The petroglyph depicts the sun, while the pictograph is of a shield-bearing warrior. This is all the information I have at this time about the history of this site.

A petroglyph of the sun

A very faint pictograph nearby

After processing a shield-bearing warrior becomes very visible

Zephyr Creek, Alberta

Archaeologists believe these pictographs are over 300 years old and were painted by either the Kootenai or Salish First Nation people who lived on the edge of the prairies. Due to their isolated location it is believed that the pictographs are from a successful completion of a Vision Quest ceremony. The site was originally  home to a large collection of artwork, but a rock slide in 1975 destroyed most of them. Today there are two very distinct paintings with a couple more above that have been eroded by time and weather.

This is the clearest pictograph I've seen. Even before processing you can see a human standing in front of an animal.

Running it through DStretch just makes it brighter!

This is the second pictograph that is quite clear

Although damaged, it still resembles a Thunderbird I believe

These red smudges are located above the two clear paintings

After processing you can see that there was a lot of artwork here at one time

We climbed up the steep slope beside these pictographs in search of others

All we found were these two red smudges that have clearly been lost to time

Michel Natal/McGillivray Shelter, British Columbia

This site has two separate human-like figures that are slowly fading away. From what I've read these pictographs are typical of traditional Columbia Plateau Art and it is believed they represent dreams and the acquisition of spiritual power obtained during a Vision Quest.

A red smudge on the rocks

It could be a human body with a spiritual head

The second pictograph is located nearby

It becomes much clearer after processing

Crowsnest Cave on Crowsnest Lake, Alberta

This site holds great spiritual significance for First Nation people. The cave was known to the Blackfoot as, "where the Oldman comes out of the mountain." The entrance to the cave was once covered with pictographs, but sadly today they have been badly vandalized by common graffiti and are all but indecipherable.

Dark red smudges at the cave's entrance

It looks like two separate figures

Another smudged pictograph

I am unsure what this is supposed to be

Ancient artwork competing with modern graffiti

This is a large painting. Could that be a human on the right?

Another painting that has been destroyed by vandalism

It stands out after being processed, but is still unclear

More paintings

This one looks like a human standing inside a circle

Pine Coulee, Alberta

There are two theories about what the pictographs at this site represent. Archaeologists from the Glenbow Museum feel that the pictograph depicts shield-bearing warriors before the introduction of horses, similar to the painting at the Cochrane Ranche site. A member of the Blackfoot community, however, feels that the artwork is telling the legend of the Wedding of Napi. I don't know which theory is correct, but it's neat to hear two completely different theories about the same piece of art.

These pictographs are also quite clear, like the ones at Zephyr Creek

They become even clearer after being processed through DStretch

A rock wall nearby with faded red markings

They stand out a little more now, but are still very unclear

The end of the rock wall

That almost looks like a human hand print

You can read more about the pictograph and petroglyph sites I have visited by visiting my Western Canadian Rock Art section on the Bradshaw Foundation's webpage.