CANADIAN SHIELD ROCK ART AND THE LANDSCAPE PERSPECTIVE A Thesis Submitted to the Committee on Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Arts and Science TRENT UNIVERSITY Peterborough, Ontario, Canada © Copyright by Dagmara Zawadzka 2007 Anthropology M.A. Program June 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-31702-0 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-31702-0 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Nnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada ABSTRACT Canadian Shield Rock Art and the Landscape Perspective Dagmara Zawadzka Canadian Shield rock art, which is believed to have been created by Algonquian-speaking peoples, survives in the form of pictographs finger-painted with red ochre and petroglyphs pecked or incised into rocky outcrops. This study examines Canadian Shield rock art from a landscape perspective, by focusing specifically on the phenomenology of landscape. The aims of this study are to elucidate why rock art sites are found in their particular locations and why certain landscape attributes might have guided the selection of particular sites for creation of rock art. Furthermore, the possible functions of Canadian Shield rock art are explored. This study concludes that multi-functional rock art sites form an integral part of the Algonquian sacred landscape and that landscape attributes present at the site represent the spiritual and cosmological concepts of Algonquian-speaking peoples. In doing so, it helps shed light on an often neglected form of visual expression within the larger Algonquian-speaking peoples' belief system. KEYWORDS Canadian Shield rock art, Pictographs, Petroglyphs, Algonquian-speaking peoples, Landscape, Phenomenology ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Joan M. Vastokas for her continuous guidance, insightful suggestions and encouragement. Her pioneering work on the Peterborough Petroglyphs has paved the way for the present study. I would also like to thank members of my committee Prof. Susan Jamieson and Prof. Marit Munson for their helpful advice and comments. I am also grateful to my external examiner, Prof. Brian Molyneaux, for his suggestions and an interesting and pleasant defence session. For a helping hand in administrative matters, I would like to thank the anthropology grad secretaries Kristine Williams, Jordan Lyall and especially Kerianne Gray, the latter also for arranging meetings with Elders. I want to express my gratitude to Prof. Shirley Williams, Prof. Doug Williams, Wendy Phillips, Lynn Gehl and Vern Douglas for sharing their knowledge with me on Indigenous religious beliefs and rock art. I want to express my deep gratitude to Jamie Boulton of the Ontario Ministry of Culture, Kenora office, for taking me to the Blindfold Lake pictograph site and arranging visits to the Lake of the Woods pictograph sites. I am also thankful to the Indigenous guide from the Whitefish Bay First Nation community who showed me the Lake of the Woods sites. I am grateful to Robert von Bitter and Lesley Kerwin from the Ontario Ministry of Culture and Dena Doroszenko from the Ontario Heritage Trust for granting access to rock art site reports housed at these institutions. Thanks also go to Adrienne Desjardine from the Royal Ontario Museum for giving me access to the Selwyn Dewdney Collection housed at the New World Archaeology Department and to Andrew Hinshelwood, the Thunder Bay, Ontario Ministry of Culture regional archaeologist, for providing me with rock art site reports. I am thankful to Prof. Daniel Arsenault for iii providing me with the Canadian Shield rock art bibliography complied by Tim Jones and Ian N.M. Wainwright of the Canadian Conservation Institute and Dr. James D. Keyser for suggestions on rock art literature. I would like to thank Terry Bell and Jarek Grunt for travelling with me across Ontario in search of rock art sites. Thanks go out also to Martin Kopec for all of his computer-related assistance. Finally, I would like to thank my friends and fellow grad students for all the fun times in Peterborough. This research has been funded by the Canada Graduate Scholarship, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the Symons Trust Fund for Canadian Studies and the Richard B. Johnston Fund for Archaeology. This thesis is dedicated to Kicia, Psotka and Pusia. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii List of Figures ix List of Appendices xiii Chapter 1 Rock Art and the Landscape 1 Chapter 2 Canadian Shield Rock Art in its Cultural Context 8 The Geographical Character of the Canadian Shield and the Distribution of Rock Art 8 Pictographs and Petroglyphs: Location and Mode of Execution 9 Pictorial Content 11 Dating Canadian Shield Rock Art 13 Cultural Context 15 Spiritual Beliefs and Religion 20 Puberty Vision Quest 24 Algonquian Medicine Men 28 Chapter 3 Theoretical Perspectives and Methodology 34 Theoretical Perspectives 34 Rock Art Studies in the Nineteenth Century: Philology, Formalism and Evolutionism 34 Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century: Formalism in Rock Art Studies 37 Rock Art Studies in the First Half of the Twentieth Century 40 Dating and Preservation of Canadian Shield Rock Art 42 Rock Art Studies from 1950-1975: Formalism and the New Archaeology 43 Search for Meaning in Canadian Shield Rock Art 44 Contextualism: A Landscape Approach to Canadian Shield Rock Art 47 v Methodology 54 Phenomenology of Landscape 5 5 Phenomenology and Rock Art: Pros and Cons 58 Phenomenology of Canadian Shield Rock Art: Methodological Concerns 60 Canadian Shield Rock Art and Problems of Classification and Terminology 62 Problems of Inadequate Information in Literature Pertaining to Rock Art 64 Summary of Theoretical Approaches 65 Chapter 4 Rock Art and the Landscape: Ethnohistoric, Mythological and Ethnographic Evidence Regarding Canadian Shield Rock Art in its Landscape Context 66 Landscape and Rock Art in Ethnohistoric Accounts 66 The Sacred Landscape 66 Dwellings of Manitous 69 "Red Figures on the Face of a Rock": Rock Art in Ethnohistoric Accounts 73 Stories of Sacred Places: Landscape through the Lens of Mythology 76 In the Footsteps of Nanabush 11 High Mountains and Deep Waters: the Place of Thunderbirds and Underwater Manitous within Algonquian Landscape 79 Beings Turned to Stone: Supernatural Origins of Effigy Features 81 A Note on Toponymy 82 Ethnographic Information Relating to Landscape and Rock Art 83 "Temples not Made with Hands": Shrines of Algonquian-speaking Peoples 83 Landscape and Rock Art 85 Maymqygwayshiwuk and Medicine Men: Rock Art and Ethnographic Research 87 "That's What They Seen in Their Dreams": Rock Art and Puberty Fasting 92 Landscape Studies of Canadian Shield Rock Art 93 Importance of Cardinal Directions in Indigenous Thought 96 vi Chapter 5 Ambiguous Images in a Sacred Landscape 97 Phenomenology of Canadian Shield Rock Art 97 Agawa Bay Pictograph Site (CiIe-3) 99 Blindfold Lake Pictograph Site (DjKn-1) 105 Annie Island Pictograph Site (DiRm-4) 106 Picture Rock Island Pictograph Site (DhKm-3) 107 Devil's Hole/ Devil's Bay 1 Pictograph Site (DhKm-4) 108 Devil's Bay 3 Pictograph Site (DhKm-18) 109 Hayter Peninsula Pictograph Site (DiKm-1) 109 Peterborough Petroglyphs Site (BdGm-10) 110 Lake Mazinaw Pictograph Complex (BfGh-5) 113 Fairy Point Pictograph Site (DcHw-2) 116 Phenomenology of Landscape in the Context of Algonquian Religious Beliefs 118 The Three-Tiered Universe and the Experience of the Sacred 118 At the Junction of the Worlds and the Four Elements 120 Acoustic Phenomena at Rock Art Sites as Manifestations of Spirits 122 Metaphors for Light at Rock Art Sites 124 White 125 Dark Colours 127 Red Ochre and the Colour Red 127 Quartz Veins as Metaphorical Lightning and Snakes 128 Importance of Cardinal Directions in Indigenous Thought 129 The Importance of Winds 132 Multifunctional Rock Art Sites 134 Rock Art Sites: Propitious Locales for Communication with Spirits for Medicine Men and Fasting Youth 134 Sacred Images and Rituals at Pictograph and Petroglyph Sites 136 The Time of Execution of Rock Art 137 The Role of Offerings at Rock Art Sites 139 Rock Art as a Navigational Sign System 142 vii Ambiguous Images in a Sacred Landscape 146 Chapter 6 Summary and Conclusions 148 References Cited 153 Figures 184 Appendix 238 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: The Canadian Shield Figure 2.2: Typical Canadian Shield Landscape (Missinaibi Lake, Ontario).