Petroglyphs by Ashleigh Mowers
The Sanilac Petroglyphs Historic State Park in Michigan’s Thumb is the home of Michigan’s largest known collection of early Native American teachings carved in stone. The 420-acre park is open seasonally & managed jointly with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan. The excellent Stateside Podcast shares that the name of the park in Anishinaabemowin is ezhibiigaadek asin, which means “knowledge written on stone” and says in part:
One of the most popular petroglyphs in the park is a figure of an archer, known in Anishinaabemowin as ebmodaakowet. The figure’s body is an arrow, as is his hat, and he holds a bow and arrow in his hands.
“Early on, when archeologists who were not consulting with tribes, you know, saw that, they thought, oh, surely this must be a hunting magic. They took it very literally. ” explained Tchorzynski. “But actually, this ebmodaakowet is actually shooting the arrow of knowledge seven generations into the future. And this was a carving that was left with great love and great affection for descendants in the future, to remind people of our responsibilities to be good ancestors, to preserve and remember, and our obligation to shoot the arrow of knowledge into the future as well. We all must be good ancestors.”
The fragile carvings are easily affected by natural forces. The Marshall sandstone is a very soft rock, and so many of the petroglyphs have faded naturally throughout the centuries. Over the years, the petroglyphs have also been damaged by human hands. Parts of them have been vandalized, and pieces of the stone have been chipped away and taken. In order to protect the carvings from degrading over time, a wooden pavilion was erected over the site. A rope now separates visitors from the rock.
Read (or listen to) a lot more at Stateside!
Ashleigh took this photo back in 2017. You can read her great writing about traveling in Michigan (and elsewhere) at Go See Do Explore. She has a brief article about her visit as well.
Sanilac Petroglyphs by Leon Baker (don’t have a link for him anymore!)
Michigan in Pictures 
I didn’t know about this – fascinating!
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I haven’t seen them. I did see the Agawa Rock Pictographs on the northern shore of Lake Superior in Canada though – VERY COOL!!
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That’s amazing – thank you for sharing this link. I am Canadian, but have lived here in the U.S. since I was ten. I’ve not seen very much of my homeland, just around thee Toronto area. I need to explore more!
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