The stone is generally believed to have been carved by the Algonquian or Iroquian speaking people between 900 and 1100 AD., if not somewhat earlier during the Archaic. Today, the First Nations people of Ontario call the carvings Kinomagewapkong, meaning "the rocks that teach" or "the Teaching Rocks". Originally two to three inches deep the 1200 carvings were made using gneiss hammers to incise human figures, animals, and a dominant figure whose head apparently represents the sun, onto the soft, gently sloping walls.