Wiigwaasabak

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A wiigwaasabak (in

Some scrolls are songs and details of Midewiwin rituals and medicine lodges.[2] A map created by an Ojibwe on birchbark was used by Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye to follow a route to Grand Portage Bay on Lake Superior in 1731.^[3]

Some scrolls give the history of the Ojibway migration from Eastern North America to further west.^[4] They indicate the discovery of miigis (white cowrie) shells along their migration through the Great Lakes region.^{[citation needed]} 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 traveling network.^{[citation needed]}

The Ojibwa peoples of the Great Lakes region historically used birch bark to keep records for instructional and guidance purposes.^[5] Songs and healing recipes were readable by members of the tribe. Either through engraving or with the use of red and blue pigment, scrolls could contain any number of pictorial representations. Birch bark scrolls could measure anywhere from centimeters to several meters.^[6]

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 their teachings alive. There is some secrecy involved to keep the scrolls safe, to interpret them correctly, and to wait until there is more respect for this ancient language system.^{[citation needed]} Scrolls are passed along and the oral teachings that go with them. Complex stories are represented and memorized with the use of the pictures on the scrolls.^{[citation needed]}

There are many claims made by elders and indigenous teachers that humans have existed in North America before the last ice age,^{[citation needed]} and ancient ways of writing and other ancient skills and artifacts may provide some clues to the migration patterns and history of North American and South American peoples.^{[citation needed]}

Twentieth century archaeology has confirmed that Native Americans have been using birch bark scrolls for over 400 years. In 1965 the archaeologist Kenneth Kidd reported on two finds of "trimmed and fashioned pieces of birch bark on which have been scratched figures of

Kidd concluded "These two finds of 'birch bark scrolls' and associated artifacts indicates that Indians of this region occasionally deposited such artifacts in out-of-the-way places in the woods, either by burying them or by secreting them in caves. The period or periods at which this was done is far from clear. But in any event, archaeologists should be aware of the custom and not overlook the possibility of their discovery."^[7]

Another scroll from a different collection was later dated to about 1560, +/-70 years.^[8]

• Birch bark document
  – ancient and medieval documents from Eurasia
• Midewiwin
• mazinibaganjigan
  – Birch bark folk art by biting a design into birch bark
• jiimaan – Canoe typically made using birch bark
• maniwiigwaasekomaan – Knife for harvesting birch bark
• wiigiwaam – Wigwam, typically made using birch bark
• wiigwaasi-makak – boxes and other containers made of birch bark
• wiigwaas-onaagan – dishes and trays made of birch bark
• Petroforms
• Petroglyphs
• Rock Art