Nanaimo : Site of Ancient Rock Carvings

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Nanaimo : Site of Ancient Rock Carvings | Photo 02

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uploaded by Barbara McPherson

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  uploaded by Barbara McPherson | add comment

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  uploaded by Barbara McPherson | add comment

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  uploaded by Barbara McPherson | add comment

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  uploaded by Barbara McPherson | add comment

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  uploaded by Barbara McPherson | add comment

Vancouver Island remains a place of stunning natural beauty and ancient people in the area of Nanaimo  must have thought so too.  Nanaimo  and environs have many ancient rock carvings or petroglyphs.  The local surviving petroglyphs are estimated to be as old as 3 000 years and as modern as the 1920s.  From archeological evidence, people are known to have inhabited this area as far back as 10 000 years.  Rock carvings older than about 3 000 years are thought to have been obliterated over time by natural erosion of the soft sandstone rocks.

These rock carvings are sited in places of mystical attraction or power.  Rock carvings on Vancouver Island are usually located close to water.  The photos of the rock carvings were taken in a small park at the south end of Nanaimo where in pre-European times would have overlooked the estuaries of both the Nanaimo and Chase Rivers. These carvings are subject to weathering and vandalism.  Evidence of old time vandalism can be seen in the rock carving of someone's initials, now slowly being overgrown in moss.   There is a rock carving near my home, on road allowance, unprotected except for a couple of 'no posts'.  

The jury is out regarding the purposes of the petroglyphs. They may have been used by shamans, to record significant events or to call fish to return to the rivers. The local First Nations band, the Snunymiux, for whom the local town in named, has no certain history of these petroglyphs.

If you are in the Nanaimo area and are interested, the park is located at the south end of town adjacent to the Old Island Highway.  Fittingly enough it is called Petroglyph Park.  For those who wish to make rubbings of the petroglyphs park authorities have made available cement casts  to use.