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Monday, 1 July 2013

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

By Leonor Rivera


Renown French artist, Edgar Degas is quoted 'Art is not what you see, but what you make others see'. Rock carving Alberta satisfies this definitive expression of art with a vast Canadian landscape of evocative, etched, stone imagery created by the aboriginal Blackfoot tribe. Inspired and crafted to provide future generations with a pictorial account of the tribes prehistoric existence 3,000 years ago, primitive paintings and 'carved in stone' enlightenment brings the passage of ancient daily life into the light for future generations.

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.

Despite today's innovative technologies, some mysteries remain outside the bounds of definitive conclusions. Such is the case for the methods and means utilized to accomplish the unparalleled Egyptian feat in building the Great Pyramids, as well as the survival of ancient artifacts left by the aboriginal Blackfoot tribe. Defying the forces of nature for thousands of years, the primitive paints and etched stonework retained its clarity, while those same forces inscribed spiritual distinction to the sandstone that provide the art's framework, purported to resemble the spirits revered by the tribe.

Many intricate carvings depict remnants of daily existence through animal renderings of buffalo, bears, wolves, deer, insects and reptiles. At a later date, when horses were utilized for travel, stylized artistry reflected tribesmen on horseback preceded by men carrying shields.

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.

The oldest Blackfoot artifacts are determined, archaeologically, to have been created 3,000-years ago. Subsequent, sixteenth century tribal lineage upheld their ancestors storytelling tradition through paintings and etchings cast in stone, revealing gun weaponry and the use of horses for travel.

In the name of progress, the quest to meet the demands for prime real estate decimated forestry and obliterated many of the ancient, historically irreplaceable, tribal artifacts. This devastating loss renders an irrevocable void for tribal descendants and the coming generations, who will forever be deprived of a gift of ancient, lost treasures, created and generously left for the future by prehistoric Blackfoot people.

The lost artifacts of Canada's ancient Blackfoot tribe have resulted in stringent laws for protecting the remaining treasury of rock carving Alberta, through penalties that carry costly fines and imprisonment for those who deface sacred, archaeological relics. The priceless gifts, painted and sculpted into the landscape by an ancient, aboriginal clan, deserves no less than the assurance of preservation for all time, with the same honor that inspired their historic, selfless purpose of enlightenment for future generations.




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