Records of the Rocks: Aboriginal Art at Writing-On-Stone
The Blackfoot of the 18th century knew it as "Aisinai'pi" - "it has been written." Archeologists, ethnographers and visitors from around the world know it as "Writing-On-Stone," the largest concentration of aboriginal rock art on the North American plains.

Since 1957, the pictographs and petroglyphs in southern Alberta's Milk River valley have been protected as part of Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park, 41 kilometres southeast of the town of Milk River, and 8 kilometres north of the Canada-U.S. border. International regard for the site has evolved from a less enlightened era, when 19th century North West Mounted Police officers used the paintings and etchings for target practice, to a contemporary appreciation for the historical and cultural record contained in the Writing-On-Stone site. While a few examples of the Park's rock art can be viewed along a self-guided hiking trail, most are accessible only by pre-arranged guided walks (mid-May to early September).

Craggy Cathedral: The jarring, unearthly landscape of the Milk River's sandstone canyon, littered with craggy hoodoos and jutting cliffs, is thought to have inspired its association with the supernatural and the sacred. A long succession of First Nations peoples believed that spirits dwelled within the canyon; historians have speculated that the valley drew young braves fasting in quest of guiding visions, and medicine men consulting the rock art for signs and portents.

The pictographs and petroglyphs of Writing-On-Stone appear to be both ceremonial and biographical in nature, with some depicting heraldic crests, headdresses and sunbursts, and others conveying surprisingly realistic tales of successful hunts, epic battles and fallen enemies. The most recent "writings" are probably the work of the Blackfoot tribes, late-comers to the Milk valley in the early 18th century. Blackfoot tradition suggests that the paintings and glyphs that already existed in the valley were revered as the work of the spirit world.

Final Chapter: Other than the scratched initials of bored North West Mounted Police officers and the etchings of misguided vandals, the use of Writing-On-Stone as a cultural archive appears to have ended over a century ago, along with the buffalo hunt and the traditional way of life. The final chapter of aboriginal independence on the plains of southern Alberta is written on the rock, portraying the horses and guns that ultimately brought starvation, disease and subjugation to natives of the Great Plains.

A Writing-On-Stone Notebook
• The Writing-On-Stone site features both pictographs and petroglyphs. Pictographs are paintings on rock, using ochre and charcoal to produce shades of red and black, and applied with sticks or fingers. Petroglyphs are carvings made in the rock with tools made of bone, rock and wood.
• There are more petroglyphs than pictographs at Writing-On-Stone. Pictographs are confined mostly to caves, overhangs and other protected locations.
• The earliest petroglyphs are thought to have been made by the Shoshoni, who moved into southern Alberta from the upper United States about 700 years ago. Shoshoni glyphs portray angular, "pointed-shoulder" warrior figures, protected by circular shields and armed with lances, clubs and bows. Animals - elk, rattlesnakes, skunks - are stylized and transparent, sometimes depicting internal organs.
• Shoshoni figures are generally passive in nature, portraying figures simply holding their weapons and shields. A few vaguely horse-like figures among the etchings suggest that the Shoshoni may have heard of, but not yet seen, the animals.
• Later petroglyphs and pictographs are thought to have been created by tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy that began to dominate the Great Plains in the early 1700's. (Some may be attributed to Cree and Gros Ventres artists.)
• The Blackfoot style is more fluid, naturalistic and active, depicting mounted warriors defending their camps. Firearms figure prominently, with lines of bullet-like dots exploding from the guns. Branded horses indicate the presence of Europeans, as do 2 glyphs representing European-style execution by hanging.
• The most famous Writing-On-Stone pictograph is the "Battle Scene," portraying a large force of armed men on horses attacking an encampment. Historians have speculated that the scene may refer to a battle between the Piegan and the Gros Ventres in 1866, or the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.
• Early drawings portray mountain sheep, once common on the plains. Sheep do not appear in later Blackfoot art.
• Buffalo (bison) are almost completely absent from Writing-On-Stone rock art, despite the animal's overwhelming importance to aboriginal prairie life. Taboos against creating images of the all-important animal may have been in effect.
• The Writing-On-Stone paintings and glyphs are wearing away. Photographs taken over a period of several decades indicate that they are being eroded.

High Atop a Hoodoo: Milk River Vision Quests
For the adolescent Blackfoot seeking a guardian spirit, or the healer looking for a message from the spirit world, the sandstone pillars of the Milk River valley provided a made-to-order setting for a spiritual "vision quest." The high, rugged country with its flat-topped hoodoos matched the aboriginal preference for a remote, sacred location worthy of the solitary quest. Under the guidance of a medicine person, vision questers typically began their undertaking with a purification ceremony involving bathing, sweat baths, or herbal-induced vomiting. They then retired to a remote location for up to 4 days, praying from a bed of flat rock, refraining from both food and water, smoking a sacred pipe, and presenting sacred gifts to the spirits. Seekers hoped to be rewarded with a vision or voice message that would guide their subsequent behaviour. Those who experienced multiple visions were thought to have special powers, and often went on to become shamans or healers.