{"id":440,"date":"2016-11-08T11:08:07","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T16:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imagesdanslapierre.mcq.org\/parcourir\/kakawin\/"},"modified":"2019-01-17T15:37:52","modified_gmt":"2019-01-17T20:37:52","slug":"kakawin","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/imagesdanslapierre.mcq.org\/en\/explore\/kakawin\/","title":{"rendered":"K’aka’win"},"content":{"rendered":"
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K’aka’win, also known as the Sproat Lake petroglyphs, is an open-air rock art site carved directly into a vertical rock wall on the bank of Sproat Lake. The lake is located in the namesake provincial park nestled in the Alberni Valley, in the heart of Vancouver Island. This rock art site was among the first ones to be studied in Canada at the end of the 19th century. The site is situated in Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) territory. This is the land of the Hupacasath First Nation, where a language of the Wakashan family is spoken.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Environment and History<\/h2>\n

Along the Sea and Mountains<\/h4>\n

Vancouver Island Ranges stretch over nearly the entire length of the island, with some peaks rising 2000 metres (6000 feet) above sea level. The island\u2019s coastlines are fragmented by sounds, bays and coves.<\/p>\n

The Alberni Valley is enclosed by mountains and is home to exceptionally rich animal and plant life. The valley is covered with lush forests thick with species such as Western red cedar, Douglas fir, Western hemlock, and, on higher grounds, yellow cypress. A wide variety of berries, shrubs and ferns, including the salmonberry, also thrive in the valley. The region is teeming with fish, including five different species of Pacific salmon, along with cutthroat trout, rainbow trout and other species. Among the mammals roaming the island are the Roosevelt elk, black bear, wolf and cougar. Some of the birds gracing the valley skies include the great blue heron, peregrine falcon and some rare species such as the Queen Charlotte Goshawk. Many marine mammals are sighted along the west coast of the island: sea lions, grey whales, humpback whales and killer whales (orcas).<\/p>\n

The oceanic climate of Vancouver Island is humid and warm. Precipitation is particularly abundant in the fall and winter, mainly in the form of rain. Winters are mild with temperatures rarely dropping below 0\u030a C, while summers are cool with average 20\u030a C temperatures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00c9paulard et toponymie du lieu<\/h4>\n

In the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) culture, the killer whale is closely related to the wolf. These marine mammals hunt in packs with the same hunting skills used by wolves. It is a Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) belief that the killer whale has the ability to assume, once on land, the form of a wolf.<\/p>\n

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K\u2019AKA\u2019WIN<\/dt>\n
K’aka’win is a word in the Nuu\u010daan\u0313u\u026b (Nuu-chah-nulth) language that means \u201csomething stuck on its back.\u201d This is the Indigenous word for the killer whale in reference to its dorsal fin. Another place name related to this site is qua queiyt\u2019q kaka\u2019win oo t!un A-xa\u2019maqis, which means \u201ckiller whale rushes onto the beach.\u201d This word actually refers to a hunting technique of killer whales when they rush onto the shore to attack seals and sea lions. In the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) culture, the killer whale is closely related to the wolf. These marine mammals hunt in packs with the same hunting skills used by wolves. It is a Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) belief that the killer whale has the ability to assume, once on land, the form of a wolf.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Gilbert Malcom Sproat
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Sproat Lake was named after Gilbert Malcolm Sproat. He was a business man, Vancouver Island Justice of the Peace and Indian Reserve Commissioner sympathetic to Indigenous land right claims. Sproat was also an amateur ethnographer, who published in 1868 a book on the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) of the Alberni region entitled Scenes and Studies of Savage Life. The Sproat Lake site, or K\u2019aka\u2019win, is mentioned for the first time in this book.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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