Prehistoric Montana stone figures related to others, Blackfoot legend
BILLINGS -- On the Northern Plains of Montana and Canada, before the arrival of humans, a demigod known as Napi, or Old Man, once roamed with his friend and rival, Coyote, according to Blackfoot tribal legend.
When Napi got tired with his wanderings he would lie down to rest, and when he arose he left behind an outline of his body made of rocks. Those outlines can still be found on the plains today — about 13 of which archaeologists call Napi figures.
“We have a number of these in Alberta,” said Jack Brink, archaeology curator for the Royal Alberta Museum. “Traditional Napi, or Old Man, figures. He is the creator of everything in the world.”
Archaeologists have estimated the dates of the Napi figures to the Late Prehistoric period — prior to Plains tribes’ contact with Europeans — about 1,800 to 150 years before present. Some of the Alberta figures are estimated to be 4,000 to 5,000 years old. Two of these effigies have been documented in northern Montana, on Bureau of Land Management property, just north of Malta along the Milk River.
http://helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/prehistoric-montana-stone-figures-related-to-others-blackfoot-legend/article_3ddd3fd1-e0dd-54f0-9101-3cc92f68e332.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
