Description of Historic Place

Moore's Ravine is a Municipal Heritage Property comprising 96 hectares of land overlooking the Eagle Creek valley west of the Town of Biggar. Located within the boundaries of Treaty 6, the property features a complex of at least 11 archaeological sites that extends for two kilometres along the north valley slope. Archaeological resources identified thus far include a medicine wheel, stone effigies, numerous tipi rings, rock cairns, and a bison kill site with an associated drive lane.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of Moore's Ravine lies in its rich diversity of ceremonial, habitation and hunting sites that reveal information regarding the spiritual, domestic and economic lives of precontact First Nations on the Northern Plains.

More than one hundred tipi rings mark the locations and illustrate the lay out of campsites that reflect the day-to-day life of the property’s former inhabitants. Ceremonial features include a medicine wheel and stone effigies, some of which have been interpreted as turtle figures. The property also contains over 50 rock cairns. While the function of many of the cairns is not well understood, some are arranged as lanes that were used to guide bison into a ravine where they could be dispatched by hunters. Deposits of butchered bone on the bottom of the ravine are further testimony to the importance of this animal for precontact Plains cultures.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Grandview No. 349 Bylaw No. 4-89.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of Moore's Ravine resides in the following character-defining elements:
-elements related to precontact use of the property, including stone constructions such as the medicine wheel, effigies, rings and cairns in their original locations; precontact artifacts; butchered bone; hearths or other archaeological features; and the spatial relationships and environmental context of the archaeological remains;
-elements that reflect the property’s precontact environmental setting, such as its native vegetation, its undisturbed landforms, and its expansive views of the valley.