Southern Alberta - Fabulous Western Canada: Capture the Excitement of the Great West! - page 155

Writing-on-Stone Provincial
Park

the drawings continued into the 18th
and 19th centuries, while some works
seem to date from the Late Prehistoric
Period.

When approaching Writing-on-Stone
Provincial Park, on can't help but notice
the carved-out valley of the Milk River
and, in the distance, the Sweetgrass
Hills rising up in the state of Montana.
The Milk River lies in a wide, green val-
ley with strange rock formations and
steep sandstone cliffs. The hoodoos,
formed by iron-rich layers of sandstone
that protect the softer underlying layers,
appear like strange mushroom-shaped
formations. These formations, along
with the cliffs, were believed to house
the powerful spirits of all things in the
world, attracting Aboriginal people to
this sacred place as many as 3,000 years
ago. Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park
protects some fascinating petroglyphs
(rock carvings) and pictographs (rock
paintings), with some dating back to
1,800 years ago. Precise dating of the
rock art is diffi cult and based solely on
styles of drawing and tell-tale objects;
for example, horses and guns imply that

ACROSS THE PRAIRIE
TO MEDICINE HAT

The prairies roll on and on as far as
the eye can see along this stretch of
highway surrounded by golden fi elds
that are empty but for the occasional
hamlet, grain elevator or abandoned
farmhouse. Towns were set up every
16km because that was how far a farm-
er could haul his grain.

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Some of the rock art in the park. © Travel Alberta

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Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park. © Travel Alberta