Sunday, October 10, 2004
— Time: 4:02:44 PM EST
Written in stone
By KEN CRITES, Staff Writer
[email protected]
People for many years have been trying to figure out the meaning of rock carvings found not only here in North Dakota, but around the region and even around the world.
Who carved them? For what reason? When were they carved? What do they say? Some have been deciphered and some have not. But, who is the final authority about the carvings?
Some theories expressed include that the sites where the rocks are found were sacred places to those who carved them. Another theory is that the rocks marked out territories claimed by a certain tribe or group of ancient people. But nobody knows for sure.
In our area, the Writing Rocks Historic Site near Grenora is probably the best-known example. In the region, there are the Kensington Runestones, a purported _ and incidentally disputed _ Viking site, around Detroit Lakes, Minn., and there are other rock carvings in surrounding states and Canadian provinces.
But, there are only a few sites in the state that are open to the public where such rock carvings are available to see. Other ancient artifacts are located on private land or have been plowed under and otherwise lost.
According to the N.D. Historical Society, the Writing Rocks near Grenora are two large granite boulders inscribed with thunderbird figures and a variety of other so-called pictographs. A researcher of old files of The Minot Daily News finds that the mystery has been going on for many years.
Retired Harvard professor Barry Fell, for example, told the Associated Press in 1978 that the rocks at Grenora are "... a monument to an Ojibway Indian chief ... that's all that's on there."
Fell wrote back to a Williston teacher who had sent in photos of the rocks to him: "I judge your stones date back from about the time of Jesus Christ."
By using Libyan and Arabic vocabularies, "from which a part of the Ojibway language descends," Fell deciphered one stone as a monument to a chief named "Thunderbird."
He said the word "his stone" recurs three times on the rock. One of the rocks also contains astronomical signs and other symbols.
The late Bob Cory, a historian and columnist for The Minot Daily News for many years, wrote several columns about the Grenora rocks among his works.
In his column "Tumbling Around These Prairies," Cory wrote in June 17, 1978: "Writing Rock in Divide County is something to look at and ponder. It is rare evidence of an early presence in this region of primitive men concerning whom the later tribes of native Americans retained no memory."
Cory described the designs and wrote, "What there is of design is, for the most part as inscrutable as some pieces of modern art.
"A work of this kind holds fascination which is timeless. It is evidently manmade. Yet nobody knows when or why, and most of the signs are unintelligible today."
A North Dakota Historical Society publication in 1938 said the Writing Rocks at Grenora were regarded as sacred by Indians who were said to have made pilgrimages there. Several Indian graves have been found nearby as well as arrowheads, beads and other artifacts, the clipping said.
On the move
The smaller of the boulders, said to weigh about a ton, was moved to the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks in 1929 where it underwent intense study by scholars there, apparently without significant revelations.
"It was hoped that specialists in petroglyphs might be able to decipher markings and symbols engraved on it by primitive people of the past," a clipping said. It remained there until June 1965, on display on the ground floor of Merrifield Hall. The larger boulder has never been moved.
Back home
Moving the smaller rock back to its original hill was a project supervised and carried out by Edward A. Milligan, Bottineau, then president of the State Historical Society.
The historical society, in a booklet describing many of the 50-plus historical sites around the state called a "traveler's companion" said, "The designs on the rocks are clearly American Indian, despite unfounded speculation attributing the origins of the 'mysterious carvings' to Vikings, the Chinese and others."
Similar rock art sites are found in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and several other sites in the Upper Midwest.
The society booklet says the thunderbird is central to stories told by many Plains Indians. Most of the artifacts on the Northern Plains date from 1000-1700 A.D. But some scholars say they might have been crafted even earlier.
Where to find them
Rick Collin, a public relations spokesman for the Historical Society, said the Writing Rocks are located about 12 miles northeast of Grenora in Divide County. The boulders are protected by a grille of iron bars, erected to keep vandals away from them.
The larger of the boulders measures 4 1/2 feet high and is 4 feet wide. The smaller rock is 3 1/2 feet long, 2 feet wide and 1 1/2 feet high.
The area has also been developed somewhat with a picnic shelter, slides, swings and other attractions for those who come to see the rocks. The site is about as far northwest as you can get in the state.
The boulders were discovered by Gen. Alfred Sully, a famous frontier general, in 1864.
They are not alone
The Writing Rocks, while an important discovery, are not the only carved rocks in the area. A large rock has come to light in the Rugby area. Actually, it's been in plain view all along since the early 1970s.
The rock bearing hand prints, a bear paw print and other symbols is quite an attraction to see. The rock is located at the Cornerstone Cafe in Rugby, not far from the stone cairn that marks the geographic center of North America.
Bill Paterson of Rugby said his grandfather, William Paterson, a stone mason, found the rock with its markings on a hillside. He said he didn't know where. Anyway, he transported it to Rugby and had it in his front yard for many years. It was later relocated by Bill Paterson to a spot just across U.S. Highway 2 from the cafe where it is today for all to see and wonder about.
Bill Paterson said that the rock has been on display since about 1973. Highway construction work necessitated that it be moved from one side of the highway to where it is located now. Paterson said, "We moved it with a forklift and set it down in concrete near the cafe." He added, "We didn't want anybody tipping it over."
Paterson said he didn't know what the symbols mean. "But, there are people who know those things," he said.
Paterson said both his grandfather and father were stone masons. He said his father laid the stonework for several buildings in the area, including a half dozen Catholic churches.
More, the merrier
Other so-called "writing rocks" are reported to be around the area, at Kenmare, Fort Ransom and near the Sisseton Hills.
Beside carvings, there are also what the Historical Society calls mosaics, pictures of creatures laid out flat on the ground.
One mosaic is located in Grant County and is a representation of a giant turtle made from rocks. The turtle, like the thunderbird, is a popular animal that apparently figured prominently in the lives of the ancient people. The mosaic is in a remote area and is not open to the public.
Undoubtedly there are other writing rocks around the state, including a mysterious one. A 1955 clipping in the files by Jack Bailey, a Missouri Basin Times correspondent, tells about the so-called "Mandan Stone." It is reputed to be a huge granite boulder bearing mysterious inscriptions. The stone supposedly lies in the channel of the Missouri River somewhere in the Stanton area.
According to Bailey's story, the stone has a habit of becoming visible during periods of low flow in the river. The story actually dates back to 1894 when "Old Mandan" came out of the river again, according to accounts.
There were also reports of the stone being visible in 1904 and again in 1934, during times of drought. There was a suggestion that the inscriptions carved into the rock were made by Viking explorers.
There was a reference in field notes of Lewis and Clark's journals to a rock in the river which the Mandan Indians used to augment their supernatural medicine.
Nowhere else in the clippings file is there a reference to the Mandan Rock, however.
According to the old newspaper files there is another boulder in the Butte area that has figures inscribed on it. It is located on the Dogden Butte. It's not known if that rock is on private property or not.
On the Internet
The Internet has a ton information about rock carvings, but most of the sites listed are in the Southwest. The eBay Web site has photos of the pictographs that appear on the rocks there and says on its site it has more than 5 million images for sale.
There is also a company on the Internet that will supply ancient symbols taken from writing rocks and carved into stone and bone by modern means.
While the Internet is a modern marvel and presents a lot of information about writing rocks, it doesn't offer what all the symbols mean.
Wondering about the carved stones is a fun exercise and according to the old clippings in the archives, a lot of people have been doing just that for a long time. The only surprise is that so far, at least, the writing rocks haven't been attributed to the work of aliens from outer space as some other ancient artifacts have.
On the Web:
http://www.state.nd.us/hist/org.htm