Petroglyphs Provincial Park - Petroglyph Origins

Petroglyph Origins

The site was re-discovered in 1954 by a prospector. The stone is generally believed to have been carved by the Algonkian or Iroquian speaking people between 900 and 1100 AD., if not somewhat earlier during the Archaic. Today, the First Nations people of Ontario call the carvings Kinomagewapkong, meaning "the rocks that teach" or "the Teaching Rocks". Originally two to three inches deep the 1200 carvings were made using gneiss hammers to incise showing human figures, animals, and a dominant figure whose head apparently represents the sun into the softer, gently sloping walls.

The petroglyphs were first thoroughly recorded in 1965 and 1968 by Joan Vastokas of the University of Toronto and Ron Vastokas of Trent University in Peterborough. Their book, Sacred Art of the Algonkians, is considered by rock art scholars the most definitive study and interpretation to date.

According to the Learning Center aboriginal tour guides and teachers, while the glyphs are important they are not the primary spiritual significance that make this site sacred. The rock site itself is a sacred place, today a place of pilgrimage for local Ojibwe people. The deep crevices in the rock are believed to lead to the spirit world, as there is an underground trickle of water that runs beneath the rock which produces sounds interpreted by Aboriginal people as those of the Spirits speaking to them.