an ethno-archaeological study of algonkian rock art in

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34 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY NO.49 An Ethno-Archaeological Study of Algonkian Rock Art in Northeastern Ontario, Canada Thor Conway and Julie Conway A group of pictograph sites on Obabika Lake, one of a number of Indian rock painting sites in northern Ontario, provides a model for understanding several aspects of Algonkian aboriginal art. The pictographs were studied in 1981 and 1984 during comprehensive ethno-ar- chaeological surveys. While many Algonkian rock art sites have been recorded in northern Ontario, few complete analyses of individual sites in their cultural setting have been published. Obabika Lake provides an opportunity for an in-depth study of a geographical cluster of rock art sites occurring in well-documented family hunting territories of an Algonkian band. Introduction The Temagami area is a cultural and physiographic region located in northern Ontario near the Ontario-Quebec border. Just after the turn of the century, it was the scene of some of the earliest archaeological and anthropological re- search in the northern Algonkian cultural area. The Diamond Lake and Lady Evelyn Lake pictograph sites were among the first sites recorded in Ontario (Philips, 1906). The noted ethnologist Frank Speck recorded the distribution and use of family hunting and trapping territories, as well as Temagami folklore and customs (Speck, 1915 a & b). Several decades later, archaeologists began to study the distinctive Archaic period settlements on the Montreal River (Ridley, 1957; Knight, 1972). Rock art research in the Temagami region continued in the 1960s with Selwyn Dewdney's field work (Dewdney & Kidd, 1973). By the mid-1970s, the Temagami cultural area became part of an intensive rock art recording project (J. Conway, 1979; T. Conway, 1979). Archaeological site surveys and excavations, which documented native land use from the Archaic to the Historic periods, intensified in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s (Pol- lock, 1975 & 1976; Conway, 1982b & 1983; Gor- don, 1986). At the same time, ethnohistorians and ethnographers made detailed records of Temagami band documentary history, oral history, and folkways (Conway, 1982a; Macdonald, 1983; Morrison, 1983). Our inventory of rock art sites was part of an archaeological project initiated in the early 1980s in response to the proposed placing of a dam on Obabika Lake to control flooding on the Sturgeon River. This action would have raised the water level of the lake by several metres. A study of the en- vironmental and recreational resources of Obabika Lake has also been completed (Belfry and Groves, 1984). For various environmental and engineering reasons, the proposed dam project was cancelled a few years later. At the time of fieldwork, all sites were threatened with permanent destruction. The research strategy for the pictograph sites followed the standard methodology of recording all visible art through direct, full scale reproductions and ex- tensive photography (Brunet et al., 1987). Archaeological survey and test excavations revealed a variety of aboriginal sites on Obabika Lake including a stratified seasonal camp with oc- cupations extending from the middle Archaic period to the 19th century AD, as well as several more prehistoric sites, two quarry sites, a sugarbush site, and several Historic period Temagami camp sites and permanent settlements (Conway, 1984). The journals of the Temagami Hudson's Bay Com- pany outpost contain numerous references to the aboriginal use of Obabika Lake by resident Temagami families, as well as seasonal use of the rich fishery by other segments of the band (Mor- rison, 1984). The Physical Setting Obabika Lake lies west of Lake Temagami in the Temagami district of northeastern Ontario, and is a major part of the Sturgeon River valley waterway which flows into Lake Nipissing (Fig. 1). With an area of 3,156 hectares, Obabika Lake is one of the five largest water bodies in the original territory of the Temagami Indian band. Obabika Lake averages 12.5 metres deep, and its numerous lake trout spawning shoals provided an important aboriginal food resource. The lake has a diverse shoreline with several sand beaches and rocky points on which are situated a number of prehistoric and historic Indian

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Page 1: An Ethno-Archaeological Study of Algonkian Rock Art in

34 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY NO.49

An Ethno-Archaeological Study of AlgonkianRock Art in Northeastern Ontario, Canada

Thor Conway and Julie Conway

A group of pictograph sites on Obabika Lake, one of anumber of Indian rock painting sites in northern Ontario,provides a model for understanding several aspects ofAlgonkian aboriginal art. The pictographs were studied in1981 and 1984 during comprehensive ethno-ar-chaeological surveys. While many Algonkian rock art siteshave been recorded in northern Ontario, few completeanalyses of individual sites in their cultural setting havebeen published. Obabika Lake provides an opportunity foran in-depth study of a geographical cluster of rock artsites occurring in well-documented family huntingterritories of an Algonkian band.

IntroductionThe Temagami area is a cultural and

physiographic region located in northern Ontarionear the Ontario-Quebec border. Just after the turnof the century, it was the scene of some of theearliest archaeological and anthropological re-search in the northern Algonkian cultural area. TheDiamond Lake and Lady Evelyn Lake pictographsites were among the first sites recorded in Ontario(Philips, 1906). The noted ethnologist Frank Speckrecorded the distribution and use of family huntingand trapping territories, as well as Temagamifolklore and customs (Speck, 1915 a & b). Severaldecades later, archaeologists began to study thedistinctive Archaic period settlements on theMontreal River (Ridley, 1957; Knight, 1972). Rockart research in the Temagami region continued inthe 1960s with Selwyn Dewdney's field work(Dewdney & Kidd, 1973). By the mid-1970s, theTemagami cultural area became part of an intensiverock art recording project (J. Conway, 1979; T.Conway, 1979). Archaeological site surveys andexcavations, which documented native land usefrom the Archaic to the Historic periods, intensifiedin the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s (Pol-lock, 1975 & 1976; Conway, 1982b & 1983; Gor-don, 1986). At the same time, ethnohistorians andethnographers made detailed records of Temagamiband documentary history, oral history, andfolkways (Conway, 1982a; Macdonald, 1983;Morrison, 1983).

Our inventory of rock art sites was part of an

archaeological project initiated in the early 1980sin response to the proposed placing of a dam onObabika Lake to control flooding on the SturgeonRiver. This action would have raised the water levelof the lake by several metres. A study of the en-vironmental and recreational resources of ObabikaLake has also been completed (Belfry and Groves,1984). For various environmental and engineeringreasons, the proposed dam project was cancelled afew years later. At the time of fieldwork, all siteswere threatened with permanent destruction. Theresearch strategy for the pictograph sites followedthe standard methodology of recording all visibleart through direct, full scale reproductions and ex-tensive photography (Brunet et al., 1987).

Archaeological survey and test excavationsrevealed a variety of aboriginal sites on ObabikaLake including a stratified seasonal camp with oc-cupations extending from the middle Archaicperiod to the 19th century AD, as well as severalmore prehistoric sites, two quarry sites, a sugarbushsite, and several Historic period Temagami campsites and permanent settlements (Conway, 1984).The journals of the Temagami Hudson's Bay Com-pany outpost contain numerous references to theaboriginal use of Obabika Lake by residentTemagami families, as well as seasonal use of therich fishery by other segments of the band (Mor-rison, 1984).

The Physical SettingObabika Lake lies west of Lake Temagami in the

Temagami district of northeastern Ontario, and is amajor part of the Sturgeon River valley waterwaywhich flows into Lake Nipissing (Fig. 1). With anarea of 3,156 hectares, Obabika Lake is one of thefive largest water bodies in the original territory ofthe Temagami Indian band. Obabika Lake averages12.5 metres deep, and its numerous lake troutspawning shoals provided an important aboriginalfood resource. The lake has a diverse shoreline withseveral sand beaches and rocky points on which aresituated a number of prehistoric and historic Indian

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FIGURE 1

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36 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY NO.49

sites (Conway, 1984). The lake has a substantialmoose population, and unlike most of the deep lakesin the Temagami region, there are reed beds at thenorth end which attract waterfowl. Aside from thesubstantial lake trout fishery, Obabika supportsnumerous other fish populations including bass,pike, whitefish and ling. Most of the shorelineconsists of low rock outcrops and boulder edgedforests with occasional large cliffs. There is nocorrelation between the size or availability of rockcliffs and the presence or density of pictographs. Forexample, the North Rock pictograph site on ObabikaLake is a single painting found on a kilometre-longrock wall with numerous vertical exposures.

The Cultural SettingObabika Lake lies in the western portion of the

original Temagami Indian band territory. The studyarea for the rock art and archaeological surveys of1981 and 1984 coincides with a sub-divided familyhunting area long associated with two TemagamiIndian families (Speck, 1915 a & b; Morrison,1984). The Temagami band of Algonkians are awell documented aboriginal group whose long termuse of the area can be demonstrated using severalsources. Extensive Temagami oral histories claimthat they inhabited their historically documentedband territory for several thousand years. Cross-dating of the subject matter in oral history narra-tives, including participation in the War of 1812 andaccounts of the late 17th century Iroquois raids,indicate that the same group of native people werepresent here throughout the Historic era (Speck,1915b; Conway, 1982 a & b). There are alsoTemagami accounts of meetings with the firstEuropean traders, and oral historical accounts refer-ring to events which clearly occurred in the prehis-toric era (Ibid). Additional documentation of longresidence comes from Temagami band genealogieswhich extend from living persons back to the ear-liest surviving French records from the beginning ofthe 18th century (Morrison, 1983).

The archaeological record, documented by exten-sive site surveys and excavations, either publishedor in the process of being reported, does indicate aregional distinctiveness from the Archaic periodthroughout the Woodland era to Historic times(Knight, 1972; Pollock, 1975 & 1976; Conway,1983 & 1984; Gordon, 1986). The archaeologicalmaterial culture appears to be sensitive down to themacro-band level in the area historically inhabitedby the closely related Temagami and Temiskaming

bands.

This area has one of the densest concentrations ofrock art in the boreal forest east of Lake Superior,and shamanism flourished until recent times. TheTemagami are most closely related to Algonkiangroups such as the Temiskaming and Kipawa bandswho live around the upper Lake Temiskamingdrainage basin (Moore, 1982; Eccles, 1983; Mac-donald, 1983; Morrison, 1983). Linguistic studiescharacterize the Temagami dialect as an archaicform of the Algonkian language (Nichols, 1983).The relationship of this dialect to those of Ojibwaand Nipissing groups in the Lake Huron area ismore distant (Higgins, 1982).

The Rock Art Site SurveyThe northern two-thirds of Obabika Lake was

surveyed for rock art by boat and canoe in 1981 and1984 (Fig. 1). This 18 kilometre shoreline studyarea included all of the northern half of the lakenorth of the sand bar narrows and the west side ofthe lake south to the Wawiagama Lake portagearea. Every rock outcrop, cliff and boulder wasexamined for rock art from the shoreline to a dis-tance of 50 metres inland. Obabika Lake has ahigher than average density of rock art for theTemagami area, with five recorded sites showing77 preserved pictographs. This density is probablydue to the long settlement here by Temagami bandIndians. Both archaeology and oral history indicatethat native families lived year round on the lake forat least 5,000 years (Morrison, 1984).

As part of a long term rock art recording projectfor northeastern Ontario, all rock paintings werephotographed, then directly reproduced usingacrylic paint on clear acetate. These field copieswere later transferred to rice paper with watercolourpaint in the lab.

Individual panels of pictographs are described foreach site with all panel numbers given as Romannumerals (e.g., panel III). Every painting received asequential inventory number for the particular site,e.g. abstract thunderbird (#24), Shining Rock site.Each site is described in detail followed by areview of the Obabika rock art in a regional context.The motif inventories, panel numbers and panelcontents are listed by site in Tables 1 to 5 andsummarized in Table 7.

The Shining RockPictograph Site (CgHb-5)

A series of rock paintings are located on the west

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side of Obabika Lake. The outcrop starts at anorthward point of land and extends south for 70metres (Fig. 2). There are four painted rock panelscontaining 30 pictographs (Table 1), many of whichare faint and difficult to observe in bright light dueto the white colour of the rock. Various panels holda canoe, a thunderbird, tally marks, and otherabstract motifs. The panels are numbered anddescribed from south to north.

Panel IA, a triangular rock with a modest over-hang, begins 77 cm above the water and continuesone metre up the wall. The main painted area is veryfaint, and it once held several pictographs (Fig. 3).Two more faint paintings can be seen on the left sideof the panel. Evidence of recent frost shattering of therock suggests that other pictographs lie at thebottom of the lake. Panel IA lies under a smalloverhang, while panel IB is another vertical wallabove this. It too is protected by an overhang. Thereare four tally marks, a reverse oblique tally mark,three faint pictographs, and another oblique tallymark (Fig. 3).

Panel II at Shining Rock lies about 60 metresnorth of panel I. The rock has a white background,and all paintings are grouped together under anoverhang in an area with large ochre smears. Thepanel II paintings lie between 1.1 metres and 1.3metres above the lake. The painted area does notcover all of the rock surface at present due to theconsiderable erosion of this panel (Fig. 4).

An inverted U-shaped abstract motif is preservedon panel II (Fig. 5) and lies next to two tally marks.Two faint paintings lie above and to the viewer'sright of the inverted U-shaped abstract. Three moretally marks are preserved on the lower left corner ofpanel 11 with a faint painting barely showing abovethem.

The only pictograph on panel III is a faint arc atthe corner of a rock outcrop a few metres north ofpanel II.

Panel IV, nine metres north of panel II, runs along alow, white rock wall near the point. The horizontalarrangement of the pictographs on this wall presentsan unusual situation (Fig. 6). No attempt was madeto protect the paintings from the elements. Each ofthese paintings is faint, but most motifs can beidentified. Working from south to north on panel IV,one encounters an arc, a faint pictograph, a canoe,another faint painting, an abstract thunderbird, twonot quite horizontal lines, and a T-shaped abstractpainting (Fig. 7).

The Obabika LakePictograph Site (CgHb-1)

A small rock art site is located just over half akilometre south of the Shining Rock site on the westshore of Obabika Lake. A series of clearly preservedpaintings and smeared red ochre designs occurunder a protective overhang at the base of a cliff andlarge talus slope (Fig. 8). This site is located on thelargest rock exposure on the lake. Despite the hugeblocks of rock talus, only one panel of art wasdiscovered. Although deliberately protected by anoverhang, many of the 11 paintings are poorlypreserved (Table 2). The panel is situated between1.0 m and 1.8 m above the water. The overhang is a43 cm deep ceiling on which an oblique tally markwas painted. The vertical panel contains most of theart. A circle lies above an inverted, V-shapedabstract motif and a complex painting which mayrepresent an animal facing left (Fig. 9) whose rearleg is superimposed over the inverted V-shapedpainting. The animal is also superimposed over twoearlier, now indistinguishable, vertically orientedpictographs. A pair of long lines are the most visibleremnants of a raised-arm human figure rendered inopen torso style. Close examination shows at leasttwo horizontal bars joining the vertical lines at theshoulders and waist. If it had painted internal torsoattributes, they are not preserved. The vertical leglines end in angled feet. Part of a circular outlinehead also can be seen. The term "human figure" isused though these could be representations of spiritworld beings or shamans. A small canoe with twovertical lines lies to the left of the human figure. Atleast six faint pictographs occur at the far right sideof this panel.

The Devil's LedgePictograph Site (CgHb-4)

A very unusual rock art site is situated at the northend of a small cove, half a kilometre north of theShining Rock site. The Devil's Ledge pictographsite is located on the ceiling of a small rock shelterfound near the shoreline (Fig. 10). The ceiling lies3.3 metres above the water. Ten of the 17 paintingsat Devil's Ledge are well preserved (Table 3). Theceiling group includes a rare painting of a possibleflying human figure portrayed in X-ray style (Fig.11). If the line near the eyes represents a nose, thisfigure is depicted in an unusual posture with adisproportionately large head thrust up and for-ward. Other paintings are a row of six dots and aunique motif showing two circles connected by a

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38 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY NO.49

MOTIF GROUP SPECIFIC MOTIF

(1) Animal • 1 abstract thunderbird (#24)

(1) Canoe • 1 multiple occupant canoe (#22)

(17) Abstract • 4 grouped tally marks (#4 to #7)

1 tally with 3 faint paintings (#28)

2 tallies with U-shape (#11 & #12)

3 grouped tally marks (#15 to #17)

1 reverse oblique tally mark (#8)

1 inverted U-shaped abstract (#10)

2 arcs (#19 & #20)

2 nearly horizontal lines (#25 & #26)

1 T-shaped abstract (#27)(11 ) faint • 11 faint (#1, #2, #3, #9, #13, #14,

#18, #21, #23, #29 & #30)

Total = 30 paintings

Panel IA =

Panel IB =

Panel III =

Panel IV =

#1 to #3

#4 to #9 & #28 to #30

#19#20 to #27

TABLE 1

Shining Rock pictograph site motif analysis

FIGURE 2

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FIGURE 3

FIGURE 4

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40 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY NO.49

FIGURE 5

FIGURE 6

FIGURE 7

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FIGURE 8

MOTIF GROUP

(1) Animal

(1) Anthropomorph

(1) Canoe(3) Abstract

(8) faint

SPECIFIC MOTIF

1 complex cervid animal (?) (#4)

1 human figure with open torso

(#5)

1 canoe with two lines (#6)

1 tally mark (# l )

1 circle (#2)

1 inverted V-shape abstract (#3)

8 faint (#7 to #14)

Total = 14 paintings

Panel IA = #1 (ceiling)

Panel IB = #2 to #14

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TABLE 2

Obabika Lake pictograph site motif analysis

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42 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY NO.49

bar (Fig. 12). Several faint paintings are found onthe ceiling, perhaps documenting earlier use of thissite. A daub and a tally mark are situated a few feetaway from the human figure.

The Mystery RockPictograph Site (CgHb-3)

A few rock paintings occur on a cliff near thenorth end of Obabika Lake on its eastern shore. TheMystery Rock site is located just north of a seriesof small islands and a gravel point (Fig. 13). Fourpanels are present and they are concentrated towardthe north end of the cliff (Table 4). Overhangs occurhigh above the painted areas, but not close enoughto provide protection. Panels were numbered fromsouth to north. Panel I, situated two metres abovethe water, has three vertical lines joined at the base.A short distance below this high pictograph, a seriesof six horizontal lines are arranged in a vertical row(Figs. 14a and 14b). Panel H lies five metres northof panel I, and nearly three metres above the water.Two 17.8 cm long vertical lines were painted there.Panel III begins one metre above the lake. The fivepaintings include two thick bodied, horned ser-pents, another homed serpent which is superim-posed over an earlier faint painting, a linear abstractangled arrangement of three lines, and a long heelbird track motif (Fig. 15). Panel IV has an isolatedmammal facing left with its head now eroded away(Fig. 16).

The North Rock PictographSite (CbHb-11)

A single painting was discovered on a medium-sized cliff situated on the northeast end of ObibakaLake (Table 5) (Fig. 17). It is difficult to observethe pictograph, which is not protected by an over-hang. Very close examination reveals an animal,apparently an abstractly depicted cervid, such as amoose or caribou (Fig. 18). The two short linesemanating from its chest are unusual attributes.

Site SettingsThe five rock art sites on Obabika Lake share

several characteristics. Each separate panel servesas a sub-site, or a possible record of individualactivity at a site. At the five sites, there are 13separate panels and sub-panels of rock art. Six ofthese panels lie under overhangs or are located onthe ceilings of overhangs. The use of overhangs toprotect rock art sites is an practice found intermit-tently across the greater Temagami cultural area,

and throughout the Canadian Shield in general.Although the use of sheltered portions of outcropsand cliffs is found in slightly less than half of thesample, some areas such as panel IV at ShiningRock or panel III at Mystery Rock lack any shelterfrom the elements. We have not identified thereasons for such selection. A broad regional motifanalysis of the types of paintings located underoverhangs as opposed to those on exposed loca-tions might reveal further details.

None of the Obabika Lake pictographs incor-porated natural features of the rock walls, such ascracks or quartz veins, to enhance their presenta-tion, as is common elsewhere in northern Ontario(Steinbring, 1982; Lambert, 1985; Conway, 1989).Site orientation is varied with three sites facing eastand two sites facing west. Since Obabika is a long,narrow lake oriented north to south, there arelimited areas of north facing or south facingshorelines.

Motif AnalysisNearly one-third of the 77 Obabika Lake pic-

tographs are too faint to categorize. The majority ofthe 50 preserved paintings show a variety of motifswith many abstract designs (Table 6). Human formsand canoes are rare, but animals are more common.In the entire Temagami band territory, the samehigh incidence of abstract motifs prevails (Table 6).The frequencies of the major motif categories foundat all the Obabika Lake sites are virtually identicalto the other combined pictograph sites recorded inthe Temagami band territory. These totals contrastwell with the motif groups from the combinedMissinaibi band territory rock art sites located 300km northwest of Temagami and the combinedAgawa sites from eastern Lake Superior. Thesedata provide justification for assuming eth-nographic continuity among rock art sites in a localarea, which could be applied to the analysis ofgeographical clusters of rock art sites in areas lack-ing an ethnographic record.

Since the abstract art often occurs as groups oftally marks, paired lines, or rows of dots, its fre-quency can be calculated in two ways. One methodgives equal weight to each individual paintingregardless of the groupings: six painted dots on onepanel is treated as six separate paintings. The alter-nate approach counts the spatially clustered,repeated abstract motifs as one painting. In Table6, the data are presented using both methods. Bysplitting the abstract motifs, the abstract categoryforms 78% of the combined Obabika sites art. By

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FIGURE 9

FIGURE 10

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44 ONTARIO A R C H A E O L OG Y NO. 49

MOTIF GROUP SPECIFIC MOTIF

(1) Anthropomorph • 1 X-ray style person (#1)

(9) Abstract • 6 dots in a row (#4 to #9)

1 tally mark (#17)

1 bar connecting circles (#2)

1 daub (#3)(7) faint • 7 faint (#10 to #16)

Total = 17 paintings (all on one panel)

TABLE 3

Devil's Ledge pictograph site motif analysis

FIGURE 11

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FIGURE 12

FIGURE 13

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46 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY NO.49

MOTIF GROUP SPECIFIC MOTIF

(4) Animals

(10) Abstract

(1) Faint

Total =

2 horned serpents (#10 & #11)

1 long heel bird track (#14)

1 mammal facing left (#15) 1 three vertical lines joined at the

base (#l)

6 horizontal lines in a row (#2 to #27)

2 long vertical line (#8 & #9)

1 three joined angled lines (#13)

1 faint (#12)

15 paintings

Panel I =

Panel II =

Panel III =

Panel IV =

#1 to #7 #8

to #9 #l0 to

#14 #15

TABLE 4

Mystery Rock pictograph site motif analysis

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FIGURE 17

combining the grouped abstract motifs, the in-cidence is lowered to 66%. The proportionalrelationships between abstract art from differentcultural areas remains the same regardless of thecounting method used (Table 6).

Of the 13 Obabika rock art panels, six have onlyabstract paintings, four have combined abstract andother categories, one panel has unclassified faintpaintings, and two panels lack abstract art. Interest-ingly, both of the latter are the single paintings ofmammals at the North Rock and Mystery Rocksites.

Individual MotifsEach distinct painting contains cultural inform-

tTiCcE

caSis

f

FIGURE 15 F 6

IGURE 1

ion related to Algonkian art in general andemagami band art in particular. The authors' motif

ndex is divided into six categories: Human Figures,anoes, Animals (including real and mythologicalreatures), Plants, Celestial Objects, and Abstracts.ach category contains several or many motifs.

At the Obabika Lake sites, human figures andanoe motifs are rare. The small sample of sevennimal paintings includes four different motifs.ince 78% of Obabika paintings are abstract art, it

s not surprising to find 13 distinct motifs repre-ented in that category (Table 7).

Human figures are common motifs on borealorest rock art sites. However, the two open torso

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48 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY NO. 49

FIGURE 18

MOTIF- GROUP

(1) Animal

SPECIFIC MOTIF• 1 cervid mammal facing left (#1)

Total = 1 painting

TABLE 5

North Rock pictograph site motif analysis

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style human figures at Obabika are not oftenrepeated at other sites. There is a tendency for quitea number of pictograph sites in northeastern On-tario to have only one human figure at a givenlocation. This is true of the Devil's Ledge andObabika Lake sites. Similar sites with one paintedhuman figure include Wizard Lake, Scotia Lake,Lake 1895, Matagamasi Lake and Diamond Lake(Dewdney & Kidd, 1973:91 & 153; J. Conway,1979:28-29). It may be significant that the only twoTemagami band territory rock art sites with humanfigures executed in a rectilinear, open-body styleoccur on Obabika Lake which forms the westernedge of the band's homeland. At Matagamasi Lake,the central body area of an outline style figure isalso left open. It was placed over a seeping springon the cliff. The exceptional human figure fromScotia Lake has a prominent heartline in the openchest area (Conway, 1989). The Scotia Lake andMatagamisi Lake sites occur in the Whitefish Ojib-wa band territory immediately west of theTemagami band area. When compared to theObabika Lake outlined figures, that fromMatagamasi Lake shares the same motif renderedin a similar style. The Scotia Lake painting showsa similar motif, but it is the only true "X-ray" styleexample. It too has a rectilinear body and open,circular head as found at Obabika. The Scotia Lakepainting also has curved arms which reinforce theobservation that in this part of the world curvilinearand rectilinear elements are often part of the sameartistic tradition. The use of both types of lines inone painting contrasts with the numerous "stick"style human figures also found in Algonkian rockart.

One canoe pictograph at the Obabika Lake site isin the "simple canoe" design: small in size with acurved bow and stern, and two vertical projections.Identical designs were recorded at the nearbyDiamond Lake site, which is located in theTemagami band area, and at several more distantsites. This design may be a lunar symbol, not acanoe (Steinbring, 1976). The canoe at ShiningRock is only partially preserved. It represents themultiple-occupant canoe motif which is commonacross the Algonkian rock art area.

None of the mammal motifs from the ObabikaLake, Mystery Rock and North Rock sites can beidentified as to species. These animals, whichprobably represent cervids such as moose orcaribou, are common paintings in the Temagamiarea and elsewhere. The mammal at the North Rocksite displays a pair of short lines, possibly legs,extending from its chest. A similar example was

recorded at Fairy Point on Missinaibi Lake, wherea moose had a pair of short lines painted below itschest. The two horned serpents at Mystery Rock areportrayed in a vertical position. This posture isrepeated at several other rock art sites, such asDiamond Lake, Wizard Lake and Longpoint Lake,as well as on birch bark midewewin scroll art(Philips, 1906; Densmore, 1929:91). Folktalesabout horned serpents have been recorded amongthe Temagami Indians and other Ojibwa groups(Barnouw, 1977:134). At rock art sites in north-eastern Ontario, there is a tendency for verticalhorned serpent paintings to be placed at the edgesof panels. This pattern, found at Mystery Rock,applies to the Wizard Lake site in the Mattagamiarea, the Burntwood Lake site in the Mississagiband territory, and the Longpoint Lake site in theTemagami band territory. At the Diamond Lakesite, however, a similar horned serpent was paintedon a panel amid several other pictographs.

Thunderbirds are distributed across theTemagami area in many styles. Very minimal,abstract examples, like the one at Shining Rock,occur several times, as do other variations on thismotif.

The Mystery Rock bird track painting is a motifrepeated at a series of Temagami and Temiskamingband sites in the Ontario/Quebec border area (T.Conway, 1979:131-132). These two bands shareseveral rock art motifs not used by neighbouringbands. These two groups were very close histori-cally, linguistically and culturally, and they oftenintermarried (Speck, 1915 a & b).

The abstract art from Obabika Lake is quitevaried. Twelve vertical tally marks, eight horizon-tal lines, one reverse oblique tally mark, a T-shape,an inverted V-shape, two long vertical lines, and anangled linear motif document the use of a linearabstract painting tradition. While these paintingsbelong to the simplest expression of linear abstrac-tion, they are repeated quite often across theTemagami, Temiskaming and Mattagami band ter-ritories. Tally marks are the most common abstractmotif and the most common motif overall in theTemagami area, occurring singly and in largegroups (Table 7). While they are widely distributedacross northern Ontario, tally marks form a largerpercentage of the abstract art in the area betweenLake Superior and central Quebec than in someother regions such as northwestern Ontario (Lam-bert, 1983 & 1985) or northern Manitoba and Sas-katchewan (Jones, 1981). The inverted, V-shapedabstract painting at the Obabika Lake site is a local

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Motif Group Combined Other Temagami Missinaibi AgawaObabika Sites Sites Band Sites Band Sites

N % N % N % N %

Animals 7 14 55 14 69 18 27 28

Human figures 2 4 16 4 28 7 2 2

Canoes 2 4 15 4 31 8 16 16

Celestial Objects - - 6 1.5 18 5 - -

Plants - - 1 0.3 2 0.5 - -

Abstract (Split) 39 78 297 76 234 61 53 54

Abstract (Grouped)*RECALCULATED*

21 66 142 60 111 43 22 33

Total Sites 5 25 7 3

Total Paintings 50 390 382 98

TABLE 6

Pictograph motif group comparisons

General Motif Groups f Specific Motifs

Human Figures 2 open torso & X-ray styles

Canoes 1 simple canoe1 multiple occupant canoe

Animals 3 cervids (moose or caribou)1 long heel bird track

1 thunderbird

2 vertical horned serpents

Abstracts * 13 (7) tally marks

1 inverted U-shaped abstract

2 arcs

8 (2) horizontal lines

1 T-shaped abstract

1 circle

1 inverted V-shaped abstract

6 (1) dots

1 circle connected by a bar

1 angled three-line abstract

1 daub

1 vertical lines joined at base

2 (1) long vertical lines

* the numbers in brackets 0 indicate separate groupings of abstract motifs, e.g. the 13 tally marksoccur in 7 distinct clusters

TABLE 7

Specific motifs found at Obabika rock art sites

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representation of the widespread use of V motifs atseveral Temagami area sites. Abstract pictographsbased on circular elements show up as well. Twoarcs, an inverted U-shaped abstract, a daub, six dots,two circles joined by a line, a circle, and three linescurved to join at the base incorporate circular andcurved elements. Dots are not very common motifsin the Algonkian art of northern Ontario. Severaldots occur on a highly abstract panel at the nearbyDiamond Lake site (Fig. 19). Further afield, a seriesof dots decorate part of the Ninth Lake pictographsite on the East Spanish River (Dewdney & Kidd,1973:91). But in a sample of 30 rock art sites innortheastern Ontario, there were only six locationsother than those at Obabika Lake with painted dots .Only 26 paintings at these six sites, or 0.4% of the694 pictographs, were dots. Painted dots are notpresent in a study of 27 sites from northwesternOntario (Lambert, 1985:124). One area where thedot motif is prevalent is that of the Churchill River(Jones, 1981:57).

It is important to establish the true nature ofAlgonkian pictographic art. Some overviews ofNorth American rock art have left the impressionthat there is a northern woodland rock art area, andthat it is characterized by naturalistic paintings(Grant 1967 & 1983). Both of these concepts arewithout basis in fact. As the Obabika Lake andgreater Temagami band area data demonstrate, over75% of the pictographs are abstract art motifs.Current research points to the possibility of regionalvariation in Algonkian art that may ultimatelyreflect band, or macro-band, level differences inmotif categories (Lambert, 1985). But abstract artremains a major component of the combined rockpaintings across much of northern Ontario andManitoba.

StyleHow are the pictographs rendered and what does

this tell us? As mentioned in the preceding discus-sion, the art on Obabika Lake shares stylistic tiesbetween local sites on the lake, with other panels ofTemagami area rock art, and with art in nearby bandterritories. At the local level, Obabika Lake art hassome stylistic distinctiveness with the two opentorso human figures and the repeated use of circularelements. By contrast, the more frequent humanfigure motifs in northwestern Ontario do not includeexamples similar to the Obabika Lake paintings(Lambert, 1983 & 1985). The human figures at theDevil's Ledge and Obabika Lake sites show strongsimilarity in stylistic attributes. Both have

bodies rendered in a rectilinear, open style withoutlined, circular heads. Each is portrayed from afrontal view with raised arms and angled feet. Thissuggests that the Obabika human figures werepainted by the same individual or, at least, by artistsimmersed in the same tradition. The use of circularand curved styles is thought to be uncommon in thepictographs of the upper Great Lakes region. Bothof these Obabika Lake sites also contain otherabstract motifs done in a curved or circular style. AtDevil's Ledge, there is a row of dots as well as twocircles joined by a line. At the Obabika Lake site, anisolated circle is found on the panel.

An abstract panel at the nearby Diamond Lakepictograph site also has a mixture of dots, a circleand V-shaped motifs, stylistically similar to those ofObabika Lake rock art (Fig. 19). Diamond Lake liesin the next Temagami family trapping groundnortheast of Obabika Lake. Wizard Lake, located inthe Mattagami band homeland, is one of the fewpictograph sites elsewhere in northeastern Ontariowith painted circles (J. Conway, 1979:28). Thecomplex Wizard Lake panel shows some stylisticsimilarity to Obabika sites, but not as much as theDiamond Lake panel does.

Rectilinear elements as well as circular or cur-vilinear elements can occur in the same paintings, asis the case with both the Obabika human figures. Thiscontemporaneity of linear and curved line usagelogically extends to the other separate groups ofcurved or circular style art and linear art such as V-shaped abstracts and U-shaped abstracts. Theevidence from associated motifs on the same panelssupports this. By demonstrating the contem-poraneity of curvilinear and rectilinear abstract artin the northeastern Algonkian rock art region, cer-tain problems of stylistic analysis can be avoided. Inthe Great Basin area of the American southwest,these styles were sometimes arbitrarily separateddespite their communal occurrence on the samepanels. This led to a confusion over style which hasonly recently been addressed (Hedges, 1982).

One painting at the Shining Rock site (CgHb-5,panel IV) is believed to be an abstract thunderbird(Fig. 7). The curved wings and vertical body, basicelements that survive the abstraction process, form auniversal Algonkian motif often rendered in dif-ferent styles. Similar abstract style thunderbirds arerecorded at Diamond Lake and Matagamasi Lake,both 20 miles north of Obabika Lake. At theregional level, Obabika Lake art shares a highfrequency of linear abstract motifs, V-shapedabstracts, and abstract thunderbirds with other

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FIGURE 20

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regional sites attributed to the Temagami Indians.A few motifs, such as the homed serpents, thegeneralized cervid mammals, and the simple andmultiple canoe forms are more widely distributedacross northern Ontario.

Pictograph InterpretationsDue to the co-operation of several Temagami

band members, some interpretation is available forthe Obabika Lake rock art motifs. Like severalother Temagami area pictograph sites where localIndians have identified motifs and their functions,a few of the Obabika Lake sites are well known bythe older Indians who once resided there.

The human figures found at two Obabika sites areuncommon motifs. The placement of one figureoverhead on the roof of a rock shelter may haveindicated flying. The Temagami Indians, like manyAlgonkian people, speak of Pagak the flyingskeleton (Speck, 1915b:81). Recently, the authorsinterviewed a Temagami elder who told about hisboyhood experience of seeing Pagak hovering nearthe roof of a bark wigwam. The fearsome skeletoncould be heard roaring away through the air as itdeparted. Pagak was regarded as an omen of deathand a metaphor for starvation. Rock shelter ceilingswere rarely used for pictographs in northeasternOntario, so the occurrence of a human figure withinternal, possibly skeletal, lines on the ceiling ap-pears to be significant. Since Pagak was alwaysdescribed as appearing overhead, and the onlyhuman figure painting ever found on a ceiling in thenorthern Algonkian culture area is rendered in anX-ray or skeletal style, it is reasonable to supposethat it is a representation of Pagak.

Multiple-occupant canoe pictographs have beenidentified by Temagami Indians as elements ofdestructive magic done to harm the Iroquois raiderswho attacked the area in the middle and late 1600s(Conway, 1982b). One of Speck's (1915b) inform-ants attributed local pictographs to Iroquois; butTemagami tribal elders, who are more conversantwith shamanism and traditional lore, have statedthat their ancestors were responsible for this rockart. There is strong evidence that primaryknowledge of rock art rituals survives in theTemagami area today. Some of the informants whocontributed to this study are shamans whosegrandparents actually produced rock art. Theirknowledge contrasts with that of other band mem-bers who have only a general, folkloric under-standing of rock art. The Temagami band still hasa conservative, traditionalist segment which pre-

serves its older cultural heritage. Furthermore, mul-tiple-occupant canoe pictographs were made at thetime of the Iroquois attacks to destroy the invadersthrough shamanic rituals. The permanent pic-tographs also served as a visual warning to futureattackers (Conway, 1982a). While the multiple-oc-cupant canoe at the Shining Rock site on ObakikaLake was not specifically identified by informants,an identical painting at the nearby Diamond Lakesite was identified in this context by Temagamielder Mr. Donald McKenzie. Oral history of onewintertime raid by the Iroquois, which took placejust northwest of Obabika Lake, was collected fromMr. Aleck Misabi whose family occupied ObabikaLake for several generations. They trace their an-cestry to the Kekek family line who inhabited thearea at least from the beginning of the 19th century.In a 1983 interview, Nipissing band elder Mr. JohnFisher recalled an Iroquois attack that took place onLake Nipissing. The Iroquois were forced to flee upthe Sturgeon River and through the Temagami areato reach the Ottawa River valley. Obabika Lake lieson the traditional Indian canoe route between theSturgeon River and Lake Temagami, and it is cer-tain that at least one part of Iroquois raiders crossedObibaka Lake by canoe. Multiple-occupant canoepictographs have also been identified by nativeinformants from the Temiskaming, Nipissing,Saulteur and Amikwa bands as elements inshamans' rituals directed against the Iroquois. Thisinformation is now documented at several upperGreat Lakes rock art sites. Not suprisingly, theOjibwa/Algonkian word for the Iroquois invadersis Nadoway, "those who come in canoes".

Throughout Algonkian mythology, giant homedserpents appear as entrance-way guardians. Thebridge crossing over a river into the land of the soulsis a serpent disguised as a log (Bamouw,1977:18).The log must be crossed with great skill. Theentrance to midewewin lodges is often guarded bya serpent that the initiate must struggle against.Several shamans have explained to the authors howthese homed serpents can appear in visions. Whilegenerally viewed as evil, their powers can be soughtfor benign use by a shaman (Jenness, 1935:40). Thenecessity of dreaming about a snake twice in orderto obtain good power may be pertinent to the inter-pretation of the homed serpent panel at the MysteryRock site. The two horned serpents appear to havebeen painted by the same artist, and they mayrepresent the necessary successive dreams aboutthe creature to receive good strength.

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Cultural SettingUnlike many parts of the boreal forest, the Indian

history of the Temagami area is well documentedby written and oral history (Conway, 1982b; Mac-donald, 1983; Morrison, 1983 & 1984; Speck, 1915a & b). Obabika Lake fell into two of the TemagamiIndian band family hunting and trapping grounds(Speck, 1915a). The northern two-thirds of the lakeoriginally belonged to Wabi-Kekek, "The WhiteHawk". He subdivided portions of his lands aroundObabika Lake into two parcels. One part of thegrounds went to Moses Misabi in the 1850s whenMoses married Wabi-Kekek's daughter. MosesMisabi was well known for his skills as a plantmedicine man, or herbalist. The Misabi lands ex-tended from the northern tip of the lake near theoutlet to a boundary a few kilometres south of thenarrows and east to Upper Bass Lake. The Misabifamily continued to live on the northern part ofObabika Lake until the 1960s. The central part ofObabika Lake, including the Devil's Ledge, Shin-ing Rock and Obabika Lake rock art sites, becamethe territory of Ayandachkwe, or "Sun PassingAcross a Cloud", who also may have been a son-in-law of Wabi-Kekek (Morrison, 1984). TheAyandachkwe family maintained their base campon Wawiagama or Round Lake where they sur-vived into modern times as the McKenzie family.The unsurveyed southern section of Obabika Lakebelonged to a separate family territory headed byCayagwogwzi also known as Shogasi or Shakosay,"Coming Up the Hill". This family continued to bewell remembered into the 20th century throughShogasi's young wife "Stabbing Woman" and hisnephew, Temagami Ned. Although the Shakosayfamily used the southern end of Obabika Lake, theirbase camp residences were located on lakes furthersouth.

It is possible that some personal rock art motifsvary from family group to family group within agiven band territory. All of the recorded ObabikaLake rock art sites fall into the southern section ofWabi-Kakek's territory. The North Rock andMystery Rock pictograph sites lie in the portion ofWabi-Kakek's land used by the Misabi family inthe 19th century. Both sites contain generalizedmammal pictographs in contrast to the three otherpictograph sites on the lake, which lie in the other19th century subdivision of Wabi-Kakek's landused as the Ayandachkwe family trapping ground.There, the two distinct open torso style humanfigures were found. While the separation of certainmotifs by families is suggestive, it is not con

clusive; and the topic is further complicated by thepresence of a public rock art site in the Misabigrounds.

Temagami informants indicated that some ele-ments of the cultural context of rock art survive intheir memory culture. There is a distinction be-tween publicly known rock art sites, like theObabika Lake and the Mystery Rock sites, andmore private sites. This social context of rock art isnow being analyzed with the help of Algonkianshamans, and the descendants of prominentmedicine men (Conway, 1989). There is no doubtthat the sacred site concept, which includes manyrock art and all burial locations, forms the centralorganizing principle for these Algonkian bands.This group of sacred sites contributes to a spiritualbonding of the people to their homeland. TheTemagami word for this band territory concept isNdakimenan, "Our Land".

Much of the information concerning theaboriginal use of Obabika Lake is derived fromrecent oral history research conducted among theTemagami band elders. Earlier sources, such asFrank Speck's 1915 monographs, based on hisfieldwork conducted in 1913, and archival Frenchand Hudson's Bay Company records, can be usedto cross-date events mentioned in present-day In-dian oral history. Dated events indicate that theTemagami oral history extends at least 350 yearsinto the past (Conway, 1982a). Interviews with Mr.Aleck "Shimmy" Misabi, the great-great-grandsonof Wabi-Kekek, and with Temagami elder Mr.William Twain yielded important ethnographic in-formation relating to Obabika Lake rock art. Bothmen identified an unusual rock formation on thenortheast shore of Obabika Lake as Shomis andKokomis Wabikong, "My Grandfather and MyGrandmother rocks" (Fig. 20). These free-standingstones were viewed as an old man standing besidean old woman wearing a shawl. The site served asa major shrine for the Temagami Indians. Tobacco,coins, food and other items were left at the rocks toappease powerful spirit forces. This shrine is lo-cated beside the Mystery Rock pictograph site (Fig.1). There are several more band level shrines, asopposed to personal shrines, in the Temagami bandterritory named grandmother or grandfather rocks.Each of the major shrines is located adjacent to apictograph site. For example, the Granny Islandstanding stone shrine (CgHa-16) in north centralLake Temagami occurs near the Granny Bay pic-tograph site (CgHa-22). A similar group of relatedsites occurs on Lady Sydney Lake. In the past, theIndians painted the nearby cliff, not the actual

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shrine, as part of their communication with theresident manitou or spirit.

The presence of the Grandfather andGrandmother rocks shrine established a focus forpublic votive activities within the Misabi familyterritory. The shrine was used by any TemagamiIndian group who passed by the rocks. The locationon a major travel route between Lake Temagamiand the Obabika River caused the grandparentsrocks to be well known. A similar situation existedin north-central Lake Temagami where anotherGrandmother Rock was located on an island besidea travel corridor.

Temagami Indian elders also recalled that theMystery Rock pictograph site was named Ka-Gaw-

Gee-Wabikong or "Raven Cliff on the Water".Many Algonkian pictograph sites have bird names.According to tribal shamans, large birds wereviewed as metaphorical thunderbirds, or messengersto the spirits.

Native informants also identified the ObabikaNarrows archaeological site (CgHb-9) as a seasonal,communal campsite which was designated for useby Temagami band families not necessarily residenton Obabika Lake. The resident Obabika familiesshared the extra abundant fish resources on ObabikaLake with other Temagami band families. The samesituation applied to parts of Lake Temagami wherethere were also more fish than the local families'could use. At the Obabika Narrows site, severalfamilies would congregate for a few weeks in theearly fall to fish, and to perform group shamanicceremonies. At that time, the Indians would visit theMystery Rock pictographic site on Obabika Lake tomake their paintings. These families would thendisperse to their winter trap-ping grounds.According to the Temagami Indian informants,rituals involving rock art still took place in the 19thcentury. This is the first ethnographic account toimply a fall seasonal timing for some public rock artactivity. Temagami oral history documents the fallgathering at the Obabika Narrows site as a yearlyevent that continued into the recent past. It ispuzzling that the Mystery Rock site, which isassociated with the seasonal rituals at the ObabikaNarrows site, contains so few paintings. Informantswere not questioned about this situation. The mostreasonable hypothesis is the rituals did not often endwith rock art activity.

Excavations at the Obabika Narrows ar-chaeological site revealed its continuous use forseveral thousand years. Interestingly, red ochre ispresent in the cultural strata (Conway, 1984).

Aggregation sites are an important segment ofhunter-gatherer seasonal rounds. These grouporiented, public sites often rely on a particularseasonally abundant food resource, or combinedresources, to support an entire band. In theTemagami band territory, several aggregation siteshave been identified by native informants. The largesize of the Temagami band, about 300 people in the18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, and the 10,360square kilometres (4,000 square miles) of the bandterritory contributed to the existence of severalcontemporaneous aggregation sites. The TemagamiIndians distinguished these resource basedaggregation sites, generally located well within theband homeland, from inter-band meeting place sitessituated at the edge of the homeland.

PlacenamesSeveral Temagami informants were interviewed

and 11 specific placenames were recorded forObabika Lake (Conway, 1984:22). Since the infor-mation was collected from members of the Misabifamily, these names probably represented most orall of the aboriginally named areas on the Obabikalandscape. The Misabi family, descended fromKekek, has been living on Obabika Lake for nearlytwo centuries. Their knowledge of local geographyis exceptional. For example, they know the locationand size of every fish spawning shoal in the Obabikaarea, the species that frequents the shoal, and theapproximate date that the spawning events occur onspecific shoals.

Placenames offer insights into areas of localgeography which received special recognition. Fiveplacenames refer to archaeological sites includingthe Mystery Rock pictograph site, the ObabikaNarrows seasonal aggregation site, and theGrandmother and Grandfather rock shrine. Theother named sites are the Misabi family settlement,occupied until 1962, and the Quartz Point quarryand campsite.

It is important to note that the one ethnographi-cally identified public aggregation campsite onObabika Lake and the two closely associated publicritual sites are included among the placenames. Thissuggests that placename data for named rock artsites may allow the identification of public, bandlevel rock art sites in areas where other ethnographicinformation is not available. This hypothesis isreinforced by information from otherethnographically identified public pictograph sites innortheastern Ontario, for example the Agawapictograph site on Lake Superior and the Upper

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56 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY NO.49

Grassy pictograph site in the Mattagami band ter-ritory. Both examples are the only named rock artlocalities in their respective areas, even thoughseveral other pictograph sites exist close to both.Ojibwa informants spoke of the Agawa and theUpper Grassy sites as records of past group levelrituals.

ChronologyExact dating of the rock art on Obabika Lake is

not possible. One can infer from the widespreadpresence of red ochre pigment at Obabika Narrowsand other Temagami area archaeological sites thatrock art activity may have reached a peak between1200 AD and 1700 AD. Native informants recallthat red ochre was also used as a wood stain by theTemagami Indians as recently as the 1930s. Mostolder band members can identify local ochre sour-ces, and recall the techniques for its preparation.

The Obabika Lake paintings can be dated in ageneral manner by the oral history accounts of rockart continuing into the 19th century. Comparativedating evidence raises the possibility that the canoemotif at Shining Rock belongs to the Iroquois warperiod between 1650 AD and 1700 AD. The com-bined dating clues suggest that a viable rock arttradition existed as least as far back as the LateWoodland period, and that the tradition continuedwell into the Historic period to the recent past of the19th century.

Native people are reluctant to communicate factsabout rock art because of its shamanic associations.For the Temagami band, the last acknowledgedperson associated with rock art was Wendaban, apowerful shaman who died near the end of the 19thcentury. Wabi-Kakek, mentioned previously, wasWendaban's brother.

Site PreservationIn 1984, the entire Obabika Lake basin was con-

sidered for inundation by a dam to provide floodcontrol on the lower Sturgeon River. There isevidence from several areas in northern Canada thatflooding destroys pictographs through leaching ofpigment, spalling of underwater rock surfaces, andscouring by built-up shore ice during the spring risein water levels (Dewdney, 1970; Taylor et al.

1979). Obabika Lake was flooded for severaldecades in the middle of this century by a loggingcompany dam which was removed in the 1970s.The water level was raised high enough to causeObabika Lake water to run over the portage into

Wawiagama Lake, according to the Indians wholived there. This previous flooding may explain thesmeared, faint appearance of so many Obabikapictographs as compared to rock art sites on LakeTemagami which have not been flooded. TheObabika Lake rock art sites show a high incidence offaint or smeared pictographs. One-third of Obabikapaintings are too faint or smeared for detailed study.This average of faint pictographs is much higher thana sample from nearby sites on Temagami, Anima-Nipissing and Diamond Lakes. Since the rock artpresumably comes from the same time periods andcultural traditions, the only logical explanation forObabika Lake's greater deterioration is the previousflooding and the weakness of the greywacke rockoutcrops. The Diamond Lake pictograph site wasalso inundated for several decades because of alogging dam. The site was recorded before theflooding (Philips, 1906) and after the dam wasremoved (T. Conway, 1979). The paintings atDiamond Lake did not appear to deteriorate. Thispreservation can only be attributed to the differentbonding between the quartzite bedrock at DiamondLake as compared to a weaker bond between theslate-like, greywacke rock and red ochre paintingson Obabika Lake.

How significant is the sample of rock art onObabika? The 77 paintings represent 14.5% of the531 recorded paintings inTemagami band territory.This is a moderately meaningful portion of the rockart within a historic band territory. The recordedethnographic association of two rock art sites on thelake with a major shrine and a seasonal campsite addnew insights into our understanding of Algonkianrock art in general. One painting, the possible Pagakmotif, is not replicated elsewhere within the greaterculture area.

SummaryIn summary, a series of pictograph sites from two

historically documented Algonkian family territorieswere examined to determine their relation-ship torock art from the collective band homeland. At thegeneral level, the motifs are undistinguishable froma sample of related Temagami band rock art sites.Certain specific motifs may be restricted to extendedfamily groups using Obabika Lake. Other motifssuch as serpents, mammals and tally marks arewidely distributed across the Algonkian culturalarea.

An analysis of style indicated that linear abstractand curved elements were contemporaneous withinindividual figures and specific panels. Some

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Obabika pictographs could be partially interpretedagainst recorded folklore. Ethnographic informa-tion was collected suggesting late summer author-ship of the paintings at one public site in associationwith shamanic activities. Native informantsprovided a terminal date for rock art activity as wellas insights into the relationships between com-munal sites. The general deterioration of manypictographs on Obabika Lake was analyzed byreference to modem disturbances. The ObabikaLake study is part of an intensive study ofTemagami band archaeology.

AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank the Ministry of Natural

Resources which provided logistical support for thesecond trip to Obabika Lake, and the Ministry ofCitizenship and Culture's Heritage Branch whichhas continued a detailed study of Temagami areaarchaeology. Many people assisted our work, in-cluding Mr. Thomas Linklater and Mr. D. Rentonof the provincial parks branch. The native historyof Obabika Lake was revealed by severalTamagami Indians. Former chief Mr. WilliamTwain assisted us greatly as well as Mr. AleckMisabi, Mr. Michael Paul, Mrs. MadelaineTheriault Katt, and Chief Gary Potts. Mr. CraigMacdonald allowed access to his notes on the oralhistory of the area including the observations of thelate Mr. Donald McKenzie. Mr. James Morrisonprovided ethnohistorical documentation from ar-chival sources.

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Heritage BranchMinistry of Culture and Communication390 Bay St.Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario P6A 1X2