Thursday, July 11, 2013

The Priceless Tribal Treasures Of Rock Carving Alberta Are Carved In Stone For Posterity

By Leonor Rivera


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.

Etchings were embedded into abundant soft sandstone that comprised caves, cliffs and rugged, remote rock formations in Canada with primitive tools appropriated from stones, bones and metal resources. The soft rock provided the canvas for paints evolved from naturally occurring, pigmented minerals mixed with animal fat or water. Tribesmen gave credence to the elements, wind, rain and ice, for shape-shifting their artistic renderings via erosion, into the likeness of spirits they believed lived in the cliffs and crevices of the landscape.

Though authenticity and age can be attributed through archeology, some aspects of the ancient stone artistry remains speculative. The fact that the elemental forces of nature weathered, re-cast and rendered the shapes of stone formations into the tribes revered spiritual representations, while sparing the primitive paints and detailed engravings, remains an unanswered mystery. Likewise, unanswered questions remain regarding the incomprehensibly labor-intensive, structural dynamics achieved in the construction of the ancient Egyptian Pyramids.

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.

The Blackfoot culture placed spiritual life on equal footing with the physical world. Animals held a powerful spiritual connotation in aboriginal beliefs and were honored as focal subjects of many paintings and etchings for their life-giving sustenance.

Archaeologists have ascertained that many of the fossilized Blackfoot antiquities date back 3,000 years. Sixteenth century descendants continued the practice of recording history through artful carvings and paintings of travel by horseback and the implementation of more sophisticated weaponry.

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.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment