Bison in Canada Discover Ancient Petroglyphs, Fulfilling an Indigenous Prophecy

Reintroduced to Wanuskewin Heritage Park in 2019, the animals’ hooves uncovered four 1,000-year-old rock carvings

Diane Selkirk

November 24, 2021



This composite photograph shows the bison herd with one of the newly discovered petroglyphs overlaid on the sky. Wanuskewin Heritage Park

The elders of the Wahpeton Dakota Nation had long prophesized that the return of the plains bison to their ancestral lands would portend a welcome turn of events for Canada’s First Nation peoples. They may not have known, however, that it would take just eight months for this prediction to come true.

In December 2019, officials at Wanuskewin Heritage Park in the province of Saskatchewan reintroduced bison to the region more than a century after the animals were hunted to near extinction. The following August, the herd’s hooves uncovered four petroglyphs, or rock carvings, and an accompanying tool used to create the ancient artworks.



The herd's hooves uncovered four ancient petroglyphs. Wanuskewin Heritage Park

Archaeologist Ernie Walker and bison manager Craig Thoms made the find last summer while visiting the park. They were standing near a wallow, or a vegetation-free spot where the bison give themselves dust baths, when Walker noticed a grooved rock protruding from the ground. Assuming the cut was from tool damage, he brushed away the dirt, only to expose another groove and then another. “They were all parallel, all symmetrical,” he says. “It was at that point I realized this [was] actually what is known as a petroglyph. This was intentionally carved.”

The 550-pound boulder turned out to be a ribstone, so called because it’s engraved with motifs that represent bison’s ribs. Researchers found three more carvings over the ensuing weeks: a larger stone with a grid pattern, a small specimen with pits and grooves, and a 1,200-pound boulder covered in lines. Then, most surprisingly of all, the stone knife used to carve the petroglyphs resurfaced.

More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/bison-in-canada-discover-ancient-petroglyphs-fulfilling-an-indigenous-prophecy-180979119/