Birch bark scrolls
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The Ojibwa (Anishinaabe) people of North America had written down complex geometrical patterns and shapes on birch bark scrolls, known as wiigwaasabak in the Ojibwe language. These writings enabled one to memorize complex ideas, and to pass along history and stories to the next generations. Several such scrolls are in museums including one on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC. One recent study of a few scrolls details the complex math and memorizing scheme associated with the symbols that were used long ago.
The bark provides an excellent natural medium to write upon, preserve, and to pass along ancient thoughts and ideas. Usually, a stylus of either bone, metal or wood was used to inscribe these ideographs on the soft inner bark. Pieces of inscribed bark are stitched together to form the scroll. The scroll is then stored by lashing the scroll to prevent it from unfurling, then placed in a cylindrically-shaped birch bark box for safe-keeping.
There are scrolls that give some of the history of the Ojibway migration from Eastern North America to further west. They indicate the discovery of megiis shells, or white cowrie shells along their migration through the Great Lakes region. These shells are used in Midewiwin ceremonies, and Whiteshell Provincial Park is named after these kinds of shells that grow in salt water oceans, and not in fresh water, which indicates a large trading and travelling network.
The scrolls and traditions are still alive today, and passed along from generation to generation. The Midewiwin are a traditional group that still keeps the scrolls and the teachings alive. There are many claims made by elders and aboriginal teachers that humans have existed in North America before the last ice age, and ancient ways of writing and other ancient skills may provide clues to the migration patterns and history of North American and South American peoples.
