| Petroglyphs Provincial Park | |
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IUCN Category II (National Park)
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| Location | Ontario, Canada |
| Nearest city | Peterborough |
| Area | 16.43 km² |
| Governing body | Ontario Parks |
| Official name: Perborough Petroglyphs | |
| Designated: | 1981 |
Petroglyphs Provincial Park is a historical-class provincial park situated in Woodview, Ontario, Canada, northeast of Peterborough. It has the largest collection of ancient First Nations petroglyphs (rock carvings) in Ontario. The carvings were created in the pre-Columbian era and represents aspects of First Nations spirituality, including images of shamans, animals, reptiles, and, possibly, the Great Spirit itself.
The location of the site was forgotten until 1954, when it was rediscovered accidentally by miners of the Industrial Minerals of Canada. The immediate area of the petroglyphs has been designated a National Historic Site of Canada.[1][2]
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The stone is generally believed to have been carved by the Algonkian people between 900 and 1400 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". The 900 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. [3]
The petroglyphs were first thoroughly recorded in 1967 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 Ojibwa people in the neighborhood. 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.
Although officially a Historical Class park, the Petroglyphs themselves are actually concentrated in a relatively small area of the 1643 hectare park. The rest consists of primarily woodland habitat home to several provincially rare species.
The park is open 10 am to 5 pm daily from the second Friday in May to Thanksgiving.[4]
The park's visitor centre is known as the Learning Place, and opened in 2002. The centre is managed by Curve Lake First Nation, and features displays about the petroglyphs and their spiritual significance to the First Nations people. A movie The Teaching Rocks is shown daily, upon request and during evening programs. There is also a children's hands-on activity room and a gift shop.
The rock carvings are covered by a protective building, and there are interpretive plaques and guides at the site. Some native people have requested that photographing and videotaping the rock carvings not be permitted, for spiritual reasons.
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