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	Petroglyphs on Gabriola Island

There are more than fifty known petroglyphs on Gabriola Island. Carved into large sheets of sandstone bedrock, or on isolated boulders, they occur in groups and singly — some at the tide line, others, well back from the shore, or on hillsides above. Some are deeply incised, others barely legible. Some are realistic, others are combinations of human and animal shapes. Still others are indecipherable, or give rise to arguments about their intent. Most lay hidden under layers of soil and moss until the 1970s, when they began to be uncovered by home-builders, loggers, and road construction. Several have come to light recently — probably many more remain hidden.

According to the Gabriola Museum (Historical Society), we do not know when they were carved — some, perhaps, as recently as 100 years ago, while others may date from the earliest occupation of the island — 2,000 years ago or more. We do have some idea how they were carved (from observations made elsewhere on the coast in the 19th century). An outline of the carving was first "pecked" out on soft sandstone as a series of small holes, using a sharp pebble. After the outline was complete, the holes were joined into a groove by abrading the stone between them, possibly with the same sharp pebble.

Sandstone on which the petroglyphs were made was chosen because it is soft, and easy to work. This was a good thing for the carver, but not so good for the carvings — some of them have eroded since their protective moss covering was removed. Anything can scratch and wear them — shoes, bicycle tires, horse-shoes, a twig used to scrape out the grooves, even making rubbings for souvenirs. Every lost sand grain makes the glyph a little more blurred. Lichen, which has grown in the grooves for centuries, may some day help us find the age of petroglyphs — if it has not been rubbed out in the meantime.

Gabriola Island Petroglyph

Volunteers of the Gabriola Island museum have created accurate reproductions copied from images made when the originals were first uncovered. They are less eroded than the originals are now, and their edges are sharper, and they are easily accessible on the Museum property. When making 'rubbings' it is advised to use these replicas as they will give you a clearer image than the originals would — please take only photographs and memories from the sites of the originals.

An excellent catalogue of all the known island petroglyphs is available on the Gabriola Museum website.

More than 50 petroglyphs have been discovered under thick moss at Jack Point, Lock Bay and Weldwood — best known is a carving of a killer whale found near Degnen Bay

Original petroglyphs can be found carved in the rock face of a field behind Gabriola United Church on South Road. Follow a trail behind the church through the forest to an open field and begin exploring the rock face for ancient images.

Please follow these guidelines when viewing petroglyphs

1. Petroglyphs on public lands are considered sacred historical artifacts and their theft, destruction or alteration violates federal law.

2. Do not touch rock art, since oils from fingers can damage pigments that may be thousands of years old.

3. Taking rubbings of petroglyphs, or using chalk to highlight images has damaged many rock art sites. Take a photograph instead and leave no trace of your visit.

4. Defacing or damaging petroglyphs, pictographs, caves, or caverns is a class 2 misdemeanor. Defacing or damaging includes:

breaks, breaks off, cracks, carves upon, writes or otherwise marks upon or in any manner destroys, mutilates, injures, defaces, removes, displaces, mars or harms petroglyphs, pictographs or any natural material found in any cave or cavern.
kills, harms or disturbs plant or animal life found in any cave or cavern, except for safety reasons.
disturbs or alters the natural condition of such petroglyph, pictograph, cave or cavern or takes into a cave or cavern any aerosol or other type of container containing paints, dyes or other coloring agents.
breaks, forces, tampers with, removes or otherwise disturbs a lock, gate, door or other structure or obstruction designed to prevent entrance to a cave or cavern whether or not entrance is gained.

It is extremely unlikely that any existing petroglyphs are more than a few thousand years old since the natural forces of erosion: washing tides, abrading sand and gravel, wind, sun, rain, frost and vegetative growth, would have obliterated any early designs long ago. Field researchers often find vestiges of carvings too weathered to be recorded. The carbon 14 technique and other useful dating tools of the archaeologist can only rarely be applied to rock art sites. Estimates of the probable age of existing British Columbia rock art range up to a maximum of 3,000 years.

Researchers are attempting to record and understand rock art before the relentless forces of erosion succeed in destroying the sites completely. Only when we understand how these carvings and paintings were made can we begin to make recommendations for their preservation. Given time, techniques can be developed to cope with natural erosion. Human damage poses a far greater threat to rock art sites. Unlike natural erosion it is unusually swift and violent. Many sites have already been lost to construction and vandalism. A site that has survived several hundred years to natural erosion can be severely damaged or totally destroyed in a few seconds by souvenir hunters chipping away at fragile surfaces, by thoughtless individuals who scratch, chalk or paint over the designs, or by the construction bulldozer.

A Petro-what?!

The word "Petroglyph" is derived from the Latin word for rock or stone — 'petro' — and 'glyph' which is the Latin word for writing or symbol.

Rock carvings, or petroglyphs, were made by the aboriginal people by pecking, scratching and carving rock surfaces with stone tools.

These ancient rock carvings are found throughout the world. In British Columbia, over 500 sites have been documented, more than any other province in Canada.

Some Gabriola petroglyphs are especially distinct due to the relative ease of abrading sandstone, the major type of rock formation on the island, and the manner in which they were protected by layers of thick moss over the years.

More petroglyph info:

Gabriola Museum