Skinner's Room: Alberta Ribstones

Wednesday 21 February 2018

Alberta Ribstones

https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Details.aspx?DeptID=1&ObjectID=4665-0111

The Viking Ribstones are very hard quartzite boulders which have been modified by aboriginal people. They pecked two kinds of marks into the boulder surface: grooves and pits. The grooves are thought to represent the backbone and ribs of the buffalo. The circular pits or "cupules" may have been carved in imitation of the pock-marked surface of the Iron Creek Meteorite which was the aboriginal peoples greatest and most venerated monument to "Old Man Buffalo" the spirit protector of the buffalo herds.

Aboriginal peoples left offerings of meat, tobacco, or beads at ribstones to acquire luck in hunting and to give thanks to "Old Man Buffalo". Only nine ribstone sites are known to exist in Alberta. These are among the rarest types of archaeological sites present within the Province. All other known ribstone sites have been disturbed. In most cases the ribstones themselves have been removed. The Viking Ribstones are one of the few monumental carvings remaining from ancient times which can be viewed in their original natural setting.

https://prairiepeople.blog/2016/12/12/a-sacred-site-the-buffalo-ribstones-by-viking/

There are also several round holes on each stone. Some people have suggested that these holes represent wounds and were carved to allow bullets or arrows to pass through the stones without harming the spirit animal within. Another theory is that the holes are the result of repeated pounding done to replicate the sound of a running herd as part of a pre-hunt ceremony. A third explanation that has been put forward is that the holes on these and other ribstones were made to resemble the rock-mocked surface of the Iron Creek Meteorite or Manitou Stone. Said by some to be the original ribstone, this meteorite – the largest ever found in Canada – fell to the earth only 40 km southeast of the Viking site and remained there until 1866.

IRON 'PURE AS POSSIBLE, AND SONOROUS AS AN ANVIL

The Fox Indians believed that the manitou dwelled in the stones of the sweat lodge. On heating the stove, the heat of the fire made manitou to come out from its place in the stones. Then it proceeds out of the stones when water is sprinkled on them. It comes out in the steam and enters the body. It moves all over inside the body, driving out everything that inflicts pain. Before the manitou returns to the stone, it imparts some of its nature to the body. That is why one feels so well after having been in the sweat lodge.

Canada's Iron Creek meteorite, a 320 lb (145 kg) Group IIIAB medium octahedrite iron, was long venerated by the First Nations in Alberta as their sacred Manitou Stone, but it was taken without authority from them by Methodist missionaries in 1866. That began the meteorite's long odyssey, as it was transferred first to the Methodist Mission in Victoria (now Pakan) Alberta; then to the Red River Mission in Winnipeg, Manitoba; then to the Wesleyan Methodist Church's Mission Rooms in Toronto, Ontario; then to Victoria College in Cobourg, Ontario; then to the campus of the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario; then to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto; and finally to the Provincial Museum of Alberta (now the Royal Alberta Museum) in Edmonton. In recent years, a First Nations movement to repatriate the meteorite to a place near its original find site has been initiated.

Strawstack Hill where the Iron Creek Meteorite once rested can be seen from the site of the Viking ribstones. Indeed, this hilltop provides an incredible view of the surrounding area and would have made a great place to scout out the movements of buffalo herds. This is probably why this location was chosen for these sacred stones. A sad story in the Cree community tells of how after the buffalo herds had been all but wiped out, a group of Cree gathered on the site to try and find some buffalo to feed their people. Unable to see any, they died from hunger and disease.