Contributor: Patrick Wright (Charlottesville Stone Center)

Did you know that the logo of the 2010 Winter Olympics is based on a stone structure?  The specific logo is named llanaaq the inukshuk, was designed by Vancouver artist Elena Rivera MacGregor, and is said to mean welcome and friendship. An inukshuk (pronounced in-ook-shook) is an Inuit word meaning “likeness of a human.”  These inuksuit (plural form) are stacked stone cairns that are used for navigational and symbolic markers. The ones like llanaaq that are human shaped are known more specifically as inunnguaq. These have spiritual connotations and were used for hunting structures to help corral caribou. Want to build your own?  Here’s how:

Step 1: Assemble a pile of rocks. They should be of different sizes, though they each should have some flat edges.

Step 2: Find a flat piece of ground on which to build your inukshuk. Crooked or slanted ground will make it difficult to stand your rocks on.

Step 3: Begin building your inukshuk. To have your inukshuk stand longer, it is best to have a strong base. This means bigger rocks, and more rocks, are used at the bottom.

Step 4: Try to build your inukshuk so that it resembles a person. As you reach the mid-section of your inukshuk, do you have a long rock that could be used as arms? Or maybe you can use two rocks as arms, and use a third rock on top to keep them together.

No two inuksuit are ever the same. Each one contains the imagination and message of its creator. How will your inukshuk be different? What will be the purpose of your inukshuk?

Click on these  brief videos to learn more about the history of the Inukshuks, a unbeliveable demonstration of rock stacking, and an interview with Peter Irniq, Inuit cultural activist, on the Inukshuk purpose and building form.

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