If a picture is worth a thousand words, the universal language of rock carving Alberta speaks volumes. Written in stone, an enduring pictorial journal brings the lifestyles of Canada's aboriginal inhabitants into 'up-close and personal' focus. The Canadian landscape is imprinted with the prehistoric passions and imaginings of the Blackfoot tribe, etched in stone imagery and cast on rock in primitive spiritual paintings, fossilized for posterity in time immemorial.
Ingenuity and resourcefulness inspired the ancient Canadian tribe to render their history on abundant rock facades, comprised of soft sandstone, with early tools contrived of hard, sharp rocks, bones and metal. Ancients paints were concocted by mixing animal fat or water with natural mineral pigments. Though the engraved and painted artwork defied nature's elemental forces, wind, rain and ice served to embed character and distinction to the stone formations that held the ancient, artistic renderings for millenniums to come.
Like the unfathomable mystery surrounding the arduous creation of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the endurance of native mineral paints that remain unscathed by the ravages of time, on the surfaces of rocks, in caves and overhanging inaccessible cliffs, offers a miraculous tribute to the spirits that the ancient tribe honored. The religious beliefs of the Blackfoot people ascribed the detailed formations as a tribute to the likeness of the spirits deemed to have lived within the cliffs, once revered as sacrosanct respites for contemplative thought and prayer.
With a purpose comparable to that of compiling a family photo album, daily rigors of prehistoric life in North America was recorded for posterity through etched and painted revelations. The Blackfoot tribe recorded local wildlife in carved, stone renderings that peppered the landscape of their shared environment. Later artwork depicted horses as a mode of transport for shield-bearing tribesmen.
Spirituality defined the culture of the tribe as powerfully as physical reality. As hunters, tribesmen revered the spirit of the animals that sustained their survival. Tribal gratitude is expressed in the frequent wildlife depictions that decorated cave walls and the stone formations that surrounded their environment.
Many of the antiquated, stone artifacts relay daily life among the prehistoric Blackfoot tribe, as far back as 3,000 years ago. More recent carvings, estimated by archaeological studies as sixteenth century, depict a more modern society that implemented guns and transportation via horseback.
Human thoughtlessness has resulted in denuding many forests for gaining real estate that once held irreplaceable treasures created by the hands of the ancient Blackfoot tribe. A one-of-a-kind, pictorial trail left by an ancient ancestry has been broken, leaving an irrevocable void in the historic passage of this prehistoric aboriginal clan, impacting descendants and future generations with a major loss.
Recently, Canada has enacted new, rigorous laws that strive to protect the historic, evocative artistry of rock carving Alberta with the inception of substantial fines and imprisonment for crimes of intentionally defacing archaeological artifacts through malicious vandalism. The priceless Blackfoot gift, left for all future generations, renders invaluable revelations of the tribes prehistoric existence, attended with forethought, resourcefulness and the purpose of enlightenment, is deserving of the same respect with which the treasures were given.
Ingenuity and resourcefulness inspired the ancient Canadian tribe to render their history on abundant rock facades, comprised of soft sandstone, with early tools contrived of hard, sharp rocks, bones and metal. Ancients paints were concocted by mixing animal fat or water with natural mineral pigments. Though the engraved and painted artwork defied nature's elemental forces, wind, rain and ice served to embed character and distinction to the stone formations that held the ancient, artistic renderings for millenniums to come.
Like the unfathomable mystery surrounding the arduous creation of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the endurance of native mineral paints that remain unscathed by the ravages of time, on the surfaces of rocks, in caves and overhanging inaccessible cliffs, offers a miraculous tribute to the spirits that the ancient tribe honored. The religious beliefs of the Blackfoot people ascribed the detailed formations as a tribute to the likeness of the spirits deemed to have lived within the cliffs, once revered as sacrosanct respites for contemplative thought and prayer.
With a purpose comparable to that of compiling a family photo album, daily rigors of prehistoric life in North America was recorded for posterity through etched and painted revelations. The Blackfoot tribe recorded local wildlife in carved, stone renderings that peppered the landscape of their shared environment. Later artwork depicted horses as a mode of transport for shield-bearing tribesmen.
Spirituality defined the culture of the tribe as powerfully as physical reality. As hunters, tribesmen revered the spirit of the animals that sustained their survival. Tribal gratitude is expressed in the frequent wildlife depictions that decorated cave walls and the stone formations that surrounded their environment.
Many of the antiquated, stone artifacts relay daily life among the prehistoric Blackfoot tribe, as far back as 3,000 years ago. More recent carvings, estimated by archaeological studies as sixteenth century, depict a more modern society that implemented guns and transportation via horseback.
Human thoughtlessness has resulted in denuding many forests for gaining real estate that once held irreplaceable treasures created by the hands of the ancient Blackfoot tribe. A one-of-a-kind, pictorial trail left by an ancient ancestry has been broken, leaving an irrevocable void in the historic passage of this prehistoric aboriginal clan, impacting descendants and future generations with a major loss.
Recently, Canada has enacted new, rigorous laws that strive to protect the historic, evocative artistry of rock carving Alberta with the inception of substantial fines and imprisonment for crimes of intentionally defacing archaeological artifacts through malicious vandalism. The priceless Blackfoot gift, left for all future generations, renders invaluable revelations of the tribes prehistoric existence, attended with forethought, resourcefulness and the purpose of enlightenment, is deserving of the same respect with which the treasures were given.
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