A high cliff to kill buffaloes and bisons to feed the tribes - Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump 158
What and Why
It is not an over-exaggeration that this is one of the rawest, most brutal but culturally-rich WHS that I have visited. A buffalo jump is a cliff formation which Native Americans historically used to hunt bison and buffalo in mass quantities. There are actually quite a number of these buffalo jumps in North America and the most illustrative of them is the oddly-named Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in Fort MacLeod, Canada, which had been in use for more than 5,500 years by the native tribe, called the Blackfoot (Siksiká: ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, Siksikaitsitapi).
The method of hunt is kind of interesting, effective but brutal: the buffaloes or bisons were first gathered at a grazing area approximately 3 km from the cliff. They were then guided along a lane lined with stone cairns to run towards the cliff direction by Blackfoot warriors dressed like coyotes or wolves to scare them. These specialised buffalo runners were young men trained to funnel the buffalo towards the lanes. Then at full gallop, the bisons or buffaloes would fall from the weight of the entire heard chasing behind them at the cliff edge, which is approximately 10 m in height, thus breaking legs and heads and killing themselves instantly. After the fall, some of those buffaloes that survived would be finished off by the warriors at the base of the cliff with weapons.
The entire buffalo or bison would be in full use, other than just feeding the tribes. The bones and carcasses were usually made into various tools and clothings were made from the skin. Sinews became the strings and ropes and the hoofs were made into glue. Almost no part of the buffalo would go to waste. The skull of the buffalo also became a prized possession and symbolic of a successful hunt. The importance of the site went beyond just providing food and supplies. After a successful hunt, the wealth of food allowed the people to enjoy leisure time and pursue artistic and spiritual interests and prospered the tribes culturally as a community. One good hunt would last the entire tribe almost a year of supplies, as many buffaloes would be hunted in one go.
Toponymy
The town and area is named after James MacLeod, who was police colonel in the area in the late the 19th century CE, when the area was a police barrack. The site is actually famous for being the mountain in the award-winning movie Brokeback Mountain.
The rather interesting name of the site came from a Blackfoot legend. According to the legend, a young Blackfoot wanted to watch the buffalo plunge off the cliff from below, but was buried underneath the falling buffaloes. He was later found dead under the pile of carcasses, where he had his head smashed in, which came in its Blackfoot name ᖰᐧᒧᐤ-ᓱᖽᖽᖽᖹ-ᖾᒧᔈ (Estipah-skikikini-kots), meaning exactly head-smashed-in!
See
Interpretive Centre
The museum, apparently integrated into the ancient sandstone cliff is an excellent display and exhibition of the site and its history, and the must-watch is the movie that depicts how the hunt was conducted. It contains five distinct levels depicting the ecology, mythology, lifestyle and technology of Blackfoot peoples, presented from the viewpoints of both aboriginal peoples and European archaeological science.
As a matter of fact the site remained in use until the mid-19th century CE, until the buffalo jump area was turned to a hunting ground by the so-called civilised westerners. This eventually almost made bisons extinct in the region.
Buffalo jump
The real site itself, to a naked eye, is just a prairie, in spite of its richness in culture and history. It takes around 10 min to walk from the museum to the buffalo jump cliff. The video shows the site, which is always very windy due to the openness of the site.
Buy and Do
There is a number of artisan shops in the town selling handcrafted objects made by local artists including jewelleries, paintings, and the usual touristy souvenirs.
Getting There and Around
No other way but driving. It is really located in the middle of nowhere. In fact the nearest settlement away from the museum is at least 10 km away. The place would give a good day of visit, including the travel part. The site is around 1.5 hour away from Calgary. The entrance fee for the site is CAD $15.
UNESCO Inscription
In south-west Alberta, the remains of marked trails and an aboriginal camp, and a tumulus where vast quantities of buffalo (American Bison) skeletons can still be found, are evidence of a custom practised by aboriginal peoples of the North American plains for nearly 6,000 years. Using their excellent knowledge of the topography and of buffalo behaviour, they killed their prey by chasing them over a precipice; the carcasses were later carved up in the camp below.
References
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