Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
Encyclopedia
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a buffalo jump
Buffalo jump
A buffalo jump is a cliff formation which North American Indians historically used in mass killings of plains bison. Hunters herded the bison and drove them over the cliff, breaking their legs and rendering them immobile. Tribe members waiting below closed in with spears and bows to finish the kills...

 located where the foothills
Foothills
Foothills are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills to the adjacent topographically high mountains.-Examples:...

 of the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

 begin to rise from the prairie
Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...

 18 km northwest of Fort Macleod, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 on highway 785. It is a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 World Heritage Site and home of a museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 of Blackfoot
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....

 culture.

History

The buffalo jump
Buffalo jump
A buffalo jump is a cliff formation which North American Indians historically used in mass killings of plains bison. Hunters herded the bison and drove them over the cliff, breaking their legs and rendering them immobile. Tribe members waiting below closed in with spears and bows to finish the kills...

 was used for 5,500 years by the indigenous peoples of the plains
Plains Indians
The Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their colorful equestrian culture and resistance to White domination have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.Plains...

 to kill buffalo
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...

 by driving them off the 11 metre (36 foot) high cliff. The Blackfoot
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....

 drove the buffalo from a grazing area in the Porcupine Hills
Porcupine Hills
The Porcupine Hills refer to geographical features located in the prairie provinces of Canada.-Manitoba-Saskatchewan:A feature known as the Porcupine Hills is located in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They are part of the Manitoba Escarpment, which was the shoreline of the...

 about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) west of the site to the "drive lanes", lined by hundreds of cairn
Cairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...

s, by dressing up as coyotes and wolves. Then, at full gallop, the buffalo would fall, breaking their legs and rendering them immobile. The cliff itself is about 300 metres (1000 feet) long, and at its highest point drops 10 metres into the valley below. The site was in use at least 6,000 years ago, and the bone deposits are 12 metres (39 feet) deep. After falling off the cliff, the buffalo carcasses were processed at a nearby camp. The camp at the foot of the cliffs provided the people with everything they needed to process a buffalo carcass, including fresh water. The carcass of the buffalo was used in a variety of purposes, from tools made from the bone, to the hide used to make dwellings and clothing. The importance of the site goes 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. This increased the cultural complexity of the society.

In Blackfoot
Blackfoot language
Blackfoot, also known as Siksika , Pikanii, and Blackfeet, is the Algonquian language spoken by the Blackfoot tribes of Native Americans, who currently live in the northwestern plains of North America...

, the name for the site is Estipah-skikikini-kots. According to legend, a young Blackfoot wanted to watch the buffalo plunge off the cliff from below, but was buried underneath the falling buffalo. He was later found dead under the pile of carcasses, where he had his head smashed in. .

World Heritage Site

Head-Smashed-In was abandoned in the 19th century after Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an contact. The site was first recorded by Europeans in the 1880s, and first excavated by the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...

 in 1938. It was designated a Canadian National Historic Site in 1968, a Provincial Historic Site in 1979, and a World Heritage Site in 1981.

The park was established as a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

 in 1981 for its testimony of prehistoric life and the customs of aboriginal people.


Interpretive centre and museum

Opened in 1987, the interpretive centre at Head-Smashed-In is built into the ancient sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 cliff in naturalistic fashion. It contains five distinct levels depicting the ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

, mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

, lifestyle and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

 of Blackfoot peoples within the context of available archaeological evidence, presented from the viewpoints of both aboriginal peoples and European archaeological science.

The centre also offers tipi
Tipi
A tipi is a Lakota name for a conical tent traditionally made of animal skins and wooden poles used by the nomadic tribes and sedentary tribal dwellers of the Great Plains...

 camping and hands-on educational workshops in facets of First Nations life, such as making moccasins
Moccasin (footwear)
A moccasin is a slipper made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp . Though sometimes worn inside, it is chiefly intended for outdoor use, as in exploring wildernesses and running from...

, drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

s, etc. Each year Head-Smashed-In hosts a number of special events and native festivals known throughout the world for their color, energy and authenticity, including a special Christmas festival called Heritage Through My Hands, which brings together First Nations artists and craftspeople who display a wide variety of jewelry, clothing, art and crafts. Visitors can witness traditional drumming and dancing demonstrations every Wednesday from July to August at 11 a.m and 1:30 p.m. at the centre.

There is now a permanent exhibition at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. Lost Identities: A Journey of Rediscovery made its first appearance here in 1999, but now it is back to stay. The exhibition, is a collaboration of many historical societies and museums that have given voice to otherwise silent photographs. These photographs have been unidentified for some time. But "the exhibit travelled to the Aboriginal communities" finding the voice and story behind the photographs taken in these communities.

Other references

The Canadian indie band Cuff the Duke
Cuff the Duke
Cuff the Duke is a Canadian band from Oshawa, Ontario. They play a blend of traditional country and folk music with indie rock influences, and can be categorized as an alt-country group.-History:...

 recorded a song titled "Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump" on their 2002 album Life Stories for Minimum Wage
Life Stories for Minimum Wage
The debut album from Cuff the Duke, titled Life Stories for Minimum Wage, was released in 2002 and recorded at Umbrella Sound and at The House of Miracles in Toronto...

.

The Canadian indie band Huevos Rancheros
Huevos Rancheros
Huevos Rancheros are a Canadian indie rock band formed in 1990 from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.-History:Huevos Rancheros perform an instrumental blend of rockabilly, surf, Grunge and punk music. The band currently consists of guitarist Brent Cooper, bassist Tommy Kennedy and drummer Richie Ranchero...

 recorded a song titled "Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump" on their 2000 album Muerte del Toro
Muerte del Toro
Muerte del Toro is the fourth studio album by Huevos Rancheros. It was released on May 2, 2000 on Mint Records on CD and translucent red vinyl.-Track listing:All songs written by Brent J...

.

The Canadian punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 band SNFU
SNFU
SNFU is a Canadian punk rock band formed in 1981 in Edmonton, Alberta and later relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia. They have released nine full-length albums and are cited as a formative influence on the skate punk sub-genre....

 also recorded a song titled "Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump" on their 2004 album In the Meantime and In Between Time
In the Meantime and In Between Time
In the Meantime and In Between Time is an album by Vancouver, British Columbia punk rock band SNFU, released in 2004. It reached number six on the Top Ten Metal/Punk chart on ChartAttack's radio charts for the week of December 10, 2004 and charted at various Canadian campus and community radio...

.

Dave Barry
Dave Barry
David "Dave" Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and columnist, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for The Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comedic novels.-Biography:Barry was born in Armonk, New York,...

 has mentioned Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump in several of his books. One particular instance is in his essay, "What Has Four Legs And Flies?"

Allegedly, when he found out about the site and called the phone number of the Interpretive Centre, the telephone was answered "Head Smashed In, may I help you?"cite He claims this was probably the highlight of his entire life. (It is in Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need)

See also


External links

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