Writing on Stone walking tour

-POSTPONED TILL SPRING-

Interested in Blackfoot culture, and cave usage and conservation of rock art?

Join a walking tour of the rock art in Writing On Stone Provincial Park with Meg Berry. Meg's primary study area is WOS. She is going to take us to many areas that are not on the typical WOS rock art tour.

Be prepared for a cool, windy day. But! Rock art shows up more prominently when its cold.

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According to First Nation oral traditions, people have camped along the Milk River for thousands of years. This is supported by the archaeological evidence.

Since the 1960s, most of Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai'pi has been surveyed for archaeological sites.  A number of sites have been excavated. More than eighty archaeological sites have been identified

• Tipi rings and cairns (small piles of stone) on coulee edges
• Small bison jump deposits below cliffs
• Buried campsites in the valley and coulee bottoms

Archaeological studies from the prairies around Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai'pi show that people have lived here for at least 10,000 years. The earliest archaeological evidence from Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai'pi itself is 3,500 to 4,500 years old.  The majority of archaeological evidence here dates from 1,750 years ago until the recent past.

Archaeological artifacts reveal information about Blackfoot history, relationships with neighbours and development of new ways of life.

Recent research projects at Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai'pi include

• Rock art recording and conservation
• Paleontology research
• Plant community studies
• Species at Risk population inventories