| An ancient site on Alberta’s landscape still commands the attention of archaeologists, spiritualists and the descendants of the Aboriginal people who are thought to have built it.
The Majorville Medicine Wheel, located south of Bassano, could easily be mistaken for a mere pile of rocks. Yet this site continues to hold out mystery for those who have been drawn to its location for millennia.
The Majorville site is just one of thousands of circles constructed from cobble stones that dot North America. Some are the remnants of teepees that were held down with stones. Others are larger and mysterious constructions that can measure in excess of 12 metres in diameter with a structure that appears much like that of a wagon wheel.
"Medicine wheels are kind of enigmas in Plains culture," says archaeologist Jason Harris, who has led tours to the site. "Majorville was started 5,000 years ago. We can’t be certain of what its purpose is."
In Alberta, Majorville is in a category of its own. Located on the highest hill in the area, it has a large central cairn that has been measured at nine metres across that is connected to 28 spokes that then connect to an outer circle that measures 27 metres in diameter.
"It’s a local phenomenon," says Harris. "Local ranchers and First Nations people visit there quite often."
Harris believes Majorville may have been used as a location for vision quests or Sun Dances by Plains aboriginals who inhabited the area at the time.
"It could have been for straight-out ceremonial purposes," he said.
Visitors to the site have also included scientists who have tried to determine with certainty what the purpose of the Majorville Medicine Wheel was.
Local archaeologist James Calder conducted a partial excavation of the site in 1971.
One of the questions raised about Majorville is whether it could have been a burial site. Although human remains were not discovered, Calder did find more than 3,000 artifacts including evidence that tools were manufactured there.
Calder writes in a paper for the Archaeological Survey of Canada," The Majorville site appears to have functioned as a ceremonial site; however, its exact function is questionable. It seems likely that the site represents a practice closely related to the lifestyle of the plainsmen over five millennia suggesting the site represents a place for ceremonialism performed to ensure the fertility and increase of the bison herds. This function is suggested by the artifact inventory."
Others believe the Majorville site was a kind of landmark that could have been used by First Nations as part of a lane system used to drive the large bison herds of the time to that location.
And yet another theory looks to the heavens for the answers. University of Alberta Professors Gordon and Phyllis Freeman argue the Majorville site is actually a sun cairn that is in fact part of a massive Sun, Moon and Morningstar Temple (similar to Stonehenge) that covers approximately 100 square kilometres to form a complex and accurate calendar that would have been used to track astrological alignments.
Professor Freeman writes in a scholarly paper, "On occasion I have been asked why people who followed the bison would have wanted an accurate calendar. The answer is the sky is (a) map that is fascinating and some people are drawn to read it."
No matter what its original use this site has taken on mythological proportions. From the first people who followed roaming bison herds to scholars who have studied its alignment in relation to the stars the Majorville Medicine Wheel has been, and remains, a place of significance, awe and wonder. |
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