Glenbow Museum
130 — 9 Avenue S.E.
Calgary, Alberta
Canada T2G 0P3
Tel: 403-268-4100
glenbow@glenbow.org
Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park- Petroglyph Exhibit
Near the Alberta/Montana border and just 44 km east of the small town of Milk
River is Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park. Canada recently nominated the park to
UNESCO for World Heritage status. The park has over 50 petroglyphs (stone-carved
images) created by the Blackfoot Native Americans, which date as far back as 7000
B.C.
The First Nations Blackfoot people had a very strong ORAL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Writin
TRADITION. That means they did not write down their stories
g-on-Stone_Provincial_Park,_Alberta.jpg
in a book, but rather they were storytellers. What they did use
were pictures on their teepees, intricate designs on their
clothing and tools, and the rarest of all- the petroglyphs that have survived to today.
Little is currently known about the significance of the petroglyphs and there is still a lot of
research needing to be done.
That is where you come in. The Glenbow Museum is creating an exhibit of the
petroglyphs from Writing on Stone Pronvincial Park. The name of the exhibit is:
Credit: Edward S. Curtis /
Library and Archives Canada
/ C-019753
How do stories we share tell about who we are?
Our resident petroglyph expert, Dr. Erin Gilroy is currently in China working with museums there, so she can’t
help us get the exhibit ready in time for opening-(date) ______________.
Your Junior Petroglyph Association is well equipped to handle this task. Your group works very hard and
comes highly reccomended by the Alberta Museums Association.
The Glenbow Museum needs you to examine the following petroglyph artifacts and consider the following
questions:
1. What do the petroglyph symbols represent? (What are they?)
2. What is the importance of those symbols?
(Why did the First Nations people decide to spend the time and energy to carve them?)
3. What is a likely story that the First Nations people told using that group of symbols?
4. What does the petroglyph tell about the people who left it?
As well, the Glenbow needs your group to design an attractive placard (information card) to be placed
beside each of the petroglyphs. What will you use- handwritten note, a Microsoft Publisher sign, flyer, or
other? Or can you imagine an effective way to tell the story of the petroglyph?