Stone maps on the Canadian Shield
In Whiteshell Provincial Park, sprawled across glacially scraped granite bedrock, are hundreds of stone figures called petroforms. These are not carvings or paintings; they are precise arrangements of boulders and stones creating the outlines of animals, people, and geometric shapes. The primary and most accessible site is known as Bannock Point, though the Anishinaabe people have a much older name for it: Manito Ahbee, or "Where the Spirit Sits". Some archaeologists estimate the oldest of these arrangements may date back 1,500 years.
The figures are constructed from stones left behind by the last ice age and are laid directly on the surface, making them exceptionally fragile. The forms include turtles, snakes, thunderbirds, and human figures. These shapes are important to the cosmology of the Anishinaabe (also known as Ojibwe), for whom this is a sacred place for teaching and healing ceremonies. The site is associated with the Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society, a spiritual group responsible for preserving traditional knowledge and healing practices. Birchbark scrolls used by the Midewiwin contain similar designs to the petroforms.