Bedford Barrens Petroglyphs
Ancient Site Medieval

Bedford Barrens Petroglyphs

Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

Type Ancient Site
Location Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada
Period Medieval

A bedrock outcrop above Bedford Basin in Nova Scotia, roughly 80 km northeast of Oak Island, bearing pecked carvings that include an eight-pointed star inside a circle. Presented to the Oak Island team in Season 2.

About This Site

The carvings are pecked into a flat granite surface on the Bedford Barrens, an exposed bedrock area above the head of Bedford Basin in the Halifax Regional Municipality. The principal figures are an eight-pointed star inside a circle and a stylised human shape with raised arms, with smaller marks and lines distributed around them. Conventional attribution places the work within the Mi'kmaq pre-contact petroglyph tradition. The same eight-pointed star appears on the modern Mi'kmaq flag and in older Mi'kmaq decorative work, and similar pecked carvings are documented at other sites in the Atlantic region, most extensively at Kejimkujik. No secure date has been assigned to the Bedford carvings, and the site is treated as culturally sensitive.