Attempts underway to protect significant landmark in Alberta's ancient history
The quartzite boulder spent untold millennia riding a massive glacier all the way from Jaspers Tonquin Valley to its eventual resting place next to Nose Creek.
That was between 15 and 20,000 years ago. Sometime later, the first people walked past - and from time immemorial the Beddington erratic and dozens of others like it - became significant landmarks across the landscape.
It's not clear just when, but the first people began to leave their mark - paintings telling stories or marking events, people or nearby resources.
"All of these sacred places were all marked - even the medicine wheels and the way they point - they point to a direction where something else happened," says Grant Many Heads, an educator at Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park on Siksika.
Many Heads notes the site was just literal steps from what's now called the Old North Trail, a route that shadowed the Rocky Mountains from Alaska to Mexico. It was a major trade and travel route, a long line that connected the northern people of the boreal forest, through the Great Plains, to the canyon and desert country to the south.
"It's not just records - they are sacred," Many Heads says. "It's kinda sad that people come to these places and damage them."
GRAFFITI
That's what has happened to the substantial boulder over the years - pictures from the 1943 Alberta Geology Report show the boulder intact. As of 2000, a report on protection of similar erratics noted seven with known pictographs, including the Beddington site, located a few hundred metres north of Country Hills Boulevard and a similar distance west of Deerfoot Trail.
At the time there was no mention of graffiti, but notes from the archaeological site identified as EgPm-177 reads "The pictographs are faded and there is no record of their precise location or form."
Today the rock is covered in countless layers of paint, with fresh cans on the ground as of April 22, 2024. Four and a half metres tall and roughly 7.3 metres long and wide, little of the actual rock is visible.
Today the rock is covered in countless layers of paint, with fresh cans laying on the ground as of April 22, 2024. Four and a half metres tall and roughly 7.3 metres long and wide, little of the actual rock is visible.
PRESERVATION
Nose Creek Preservation Society founder Andrew Yule says more needs to be done to preserve the erratic and give it a place of respect and context in Calgary's modern landscape.
"Finland has laws to protect natural monuments like glacial erratics and we don’t really have protections," Yule says. "It really takes efforts from all levels of government to make sure that significant natural monuments [. . .] like this one are protected."
The city owns the land immediately to the south - an unofficial park that has a bridge and a gravel trail, but no proper access point. The erratic itself sits just roughly 60 metres onto private land to the north.
The city says there is little if anything it can do.
Yule said his group have tried to identify the landowner to see if they can negotiate a plan for the ancient site, but haven't been successful.
"We have teams of people that are interested in helping restore it so that we can get rid of the graffiti and place actual historic markers that can tell the story so that it’s not just another rock," Yule said.
The petroglyphs were mostly painted using a naturally occurring red clay called ochre, mixed with animal fat. It has lasted at least 1,500 years in some North American sites, but does deteriorate over time and with repeated touching. The presence of even the lightest coat of spray paint can cause irreparable harm.
Yule says the valley is the final resting place of countless bison, butchered and packaged to feed the people who followed the northern herds over vast areas for thousands of years.
Nose Creek Preservation Society founder Andrew Yule says more needs to be done to preserve the erratic and give it a place of respect and context in Calgary's modern landscape.
There is still a depression around the Beddington erratic, pounded out by the feet of thegreat bison herds rubbing their winter coats.
Today that moat is the only tangible evidence left of the countless souls that passed this way since the great glaciers melted away and life in Alberta began.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Solar storm puts on brilliant light show across the globe, but no serious problems reported
A powerful solar storm put on an amazing skyward light show across the globe overnight but has caused what appeared to be only minor disruptions to the electric power grid, communications and satellite positioning systems.
Potentially toxic chemicals hide in our drinking water and countless household objects, and they're not going anywhere
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
'My family doctor just fired me': Ontario patients frustrated with de-rostering
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
Montreal man facing charges following contraband drone drop at Millhaven: OPP
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says a 40-year-old man from Montreal is facing charges following a suspected drone drop of unauthorized items at the Millhaven Institution.
'I am angry': Alberta farmers will continue fight over world class motorsport resort
The rolling hills leading to the hamlet of Rosebud are dotted with sprawling farms and cattle pastures -- and a sign sporting a simple message: No Race Track.
Suspect sought after fatal slashing in downtown Toronto
Police are searching for a suspect in a homicide investigation after a man was slashed in downtown Toronto on Sunday.
Blinken delivers some of the strongest U.S. public criticism of Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday delivered some of the Biden administration's strongest public criticism yet of Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza, saying Israeli tactics have meant "a horrible loss of life of innocent civilians" but failed to neutralize Hamas leaders and fighters and could drive a lasting insurgency.
Police investigating after tow trucks shot at in Scarborough two hours apart
Toronto police are investigating after tow trucks were shot at in Scarborough about two hours apart Saturday night.
Canada Post cracks down on Nunavut loophole to get free Amazon Prime shipping
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.