The Nett Lake Petroglyph Site is located on the Nett Lake (Bois Forte) Reservation in Koochiching County in northern Minnesota, on an island listed as Spirit Island. It is sometimes known locally as Picture Island or Drum Island because the island has petroglyphs and on walking over the polished rock area it was reputed to give out a hollow drum-like sound.
The site is on the National Register of Historic Places and is well protected by local people who still may consider the island sacred. Tobacco, clothing , and food have been left near the carvings. Permission of the local tribal people to visit the island is advised and may not always be given. Wild rice which is growing near the island, has at times been a significant part of the local economy, and can be harmed by careless boat travel to the island.
The petroglyphs are located on an igneous outcrop. The local oral history indicates that the petroglyphs were already there when the Ojibwa came into the area. Some of the petroglyphs may have been repecked. Spirit Island is supposed to be the home of small spirits known as Ah ge jaks. The stories about where Nett Lake derived its name and the making of the Nett Lake petroglyphs also involve “half sea-lion and half-fish” creatures, or in the modern version “children.”
Lloyd A. Wilford, a University of Minnesota anthropology professor, in 1948 excavated a site in the current Village of Nett Lake about 1000 feet from Spirit Island. The excavation found a Blackduck and an earlier Laurel focus. The Middle and Late Woodland culture spanned the years from about 600 BC to 1600 AD. According to Wilford the Nett Lake area was probably never Siouxan territory but they may have hunted and raided in the Nett Lake area. He concluded that the area had probably been occupied by Cree or Assiniboine at times.
The petroglyphs are en toto styled pecked figures and include humans, animals, and geometric figures. Estimates of the number of petroglyphs have varied from 130 actually recorded to over 500. The figures appear to include shamen with medicine bags and upraised arms in a position to receive power from the underground spirit and in shamanic dance postures. Some of the figures appear similar to those found on birch bark scrolls made by the Midewiwin or organized shamanic society and are similar to other petroglyphs found in Canada. The animals include a horned serpent which is a powerful spirit for healing the sick and other fantastic animals probably seen during visions. One newspaper account from earlier this century reported the island to be a place where shamen retired for up to three days to gain spiritual power.
Thomas Vennum, Jr. in his book Wild Rice and the Ojibway People (1988) indicated that:"Because a memegwesi is believed to live on Spirit Island in Nett Lake, much reverence is accorded the place; ancient spiritual petroglyphs have been found there, and when the lake is agitated, small caverns along the island's shore give off a sound said to be the spirits 'drumming.'" Vennum, citing Lips 1956 ethnography (published in German), then described four similar versions of the discovery of Nett Lake that involve the maymaygwayshi or "memegwesi".
