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.
Like the unfathomable mystery surrounding the arduous creation of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the endurance of native mineral paints that remain unscathed by the ravages of time, on the surfaces of rocks, in caves and overhanging inaccessible cliffs, offers a miraculous tribute to the spirits that the ancient tribe honored. The religious beliefs of the Blackfoot people ascribed the detailed formations as a tribute to the likeness of the spirits deemed to have lived within the cliffs, once revered as sacrosanct respites for contemplative thought and prayer.
With a purpose comparable to that of compiling a family photo album, daily rigors of prehistoric life in North America was recorded for posterity through etched and painted revelations. The Blackfoot tribe recorded local wildlife in carved, stone renderings that peppered the landscape of their shared environment. Later artwork depicted horses as a mode of transport for shield-bearing tribesmen.
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.
Archaeologists have ascertained that many of the fossilized Blackfoot antiquities date back 3,000 years. Sixteenth century descendants continued the practice of recording history through artful carvings and paintings of travel by horseback and the implementation of more sophisticated weaponry.
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.
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.
Like the unfathomable mystery surrounding the arduous creation of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the endurance of native mineral paints that remain unscathed by the ravages of time, on the surfaces of rocks, in caves and overhanging inaccessible cliffs, offers a miraculous tribute to the spirits that the ancient tribe honored. The religious beliefs of the Blackfoot people ascribed the detailed formations as a tribute to the likeness of the spirits deemed to have lived within the cliffs, once revered as sacrosanct respites for contemplative thought and prayer.
With a purpose comparable to that of compiling a family photo album, daily rigors of prehistoric life in North America was recorded for posterity through etched and painted revelations. The Blackfoot tribe recorded local wildlife in carved, stone renderings that peppered the landscape of their shared environment. Later artwork depicted horses as a mode of transport for shield-bearing tribesmen.
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.
Archaeologists have ascertained that many of the fossilized Blackfoot antiquities date back 3,000 years. Sixteenth century descendants continued the practice of recording history through artful carvings and paintings of travel by horseback and the implementation of more sophisticated weaponry.
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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