Grotto Canyon and It's Pictographs

When you first see the images in Grotto Canyon you are amazed that they are still visible after all these years.  

Re-discovered decades ago, these pictographs can be interpreted in many ways. The most popular theory is supported by one of the images seen on the Canyon wall …the infamous “flute player”. Although rock painting was popular throughout First Nations history, this symbol had always belonged to one tribe and one tribe only… the Hopi. The Hopi’s original roots are in Arizona (several thousand kilometres south of here) however legend has it that over a thousand years ago, in order to find their common home, the Hopi had to migrate in all four directions first. In fact, the northern travellers had made all the way to Arctic Circle, passing through Grotto Canyon and the Canadian Rockies!

Leaving their symbol, the flute player, wherever they camped on that huge migration, the Grotto Canyon pictographs offer even more to imagine. Among the collection of images we also see humans with their feet splayed, spears or sticks in hand, animals in formation running to or from somewhere. Symbolic images? Instructions? A story perhaps? As we continue to the “grand wall” (my own nickname for our next stop on the tour) I like to come up with my own interpretations; something that I encourage everyone to do. Maybe it was a warning to other tribes that this canyon was already taken. Maybe it was a welcome sign, similar to an address. Maybe the Hopi hunted here by trapping the animals in the canyon or maybe, just maybe, the Hopi perished here at the hands of another rock painting people who “stole” the flute player from their victims. So few images but yet so many possibilities!

Although I do believe the theory mentioned above, the “mysteries of interpretation game” (another self proclaimed nickname) really helps put oneself in the feet of history and allows us to go deeper into imagining what life was like back then. Walking through its towering walls along the ice, it is easy to lose yourself in the feeling of genuine discovery. Walking slowly helps too!

To rekindle, exercise and expand you imagination and knowledge, come on out to Grotto Canyon and let us lead you on a winter adventure on this Canmore Tour.

Mark Zanetti - Discover Banff Tours Guide