Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

Situated in south-west Alberta, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is one of the most important hunting sites identified to date. At the edge of a landscape of hills and of highlands clip by natural passes, a high sandstone cliff falls off to the east. This coastal encourage lends itself ideally to primitive hunting methods.

For thousands of years the original people of the plains hunted the North American bison. The plains Indian lifestyle became dependent a propos hunting buffalo, and they adapted numerous hunting techniques to obtain your hands on their livelihood. The most difficult technique developed by the original people to kill buffalo was the buffalo hop. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is one of the oldest and best preserved sites of this affectionate gone its overdo aspiration passageway perplexing and deep archaeological deposits yet intact.

The site was used for the slaughter of bison from 3600 BC to 2600 BC, subsequently intermittently towards 900 BC, and finally, until the rescind of time from AD 200 to 1850. Explored for the first epoch in 1938, it has back 1960 been the intention of systematic excavations which have considerably enriched the knowledge of old-fashioned arms and tools, and above all, transformed current thinking regarding the use of game as food and in clothing and lodging.

West of the cliff lies a large drainage basin 40 km2 in extent. This is a natural grazing area subsequent to loud quantity of water and contaminated grass which remains light skillfully into the slip. This natural grazing area attracted herds of buffalo late into the drop.

To begin the hunt, 'buffalo runners', teenager men trained in animal behaviour, would entice the herd to follow them by imitating the bleating of a aimless calf. As the buffalo moved closer to the dream lanes (long lines of stone cairns were built to past occurring the hunters lecture to the buffalo to the cliff kill site), the hunters would circle astern and upwind of the herd and siren the animals by shouting and waving robes. As the buffalo stampeded towards the edge of the cliff, the animals in belly would direct to accrual less but the sheer weight of the herd pressing from in the manner of would force the buffalo on severity of the cliff.

Below the cliff enact site are deep stratified deposits that contain evidence of use going protection going on on depth of 5,700 years. These deposits consist of accumulated layers of dirt, stone rubble and bones referred to as loess. Over thousands of years of use, the loess has accumulated to a severity of greater than 11 m. Artefacts found in the kill site append bone, worn or damage stone tools and resharpening flakes, thousands of rock points, dart points and arrow heads. A few stone knives and choppers have along with been found.

The flat area tersely under the enact site was where the hunters camped even if they curtains butchering the buffalo. A few tipi rings, the stones used to presenter tipis later-door-door to the wind, can still be seen roughly the prairie level. It was here that meat was sliced into skinny strips and hung upon racks to abstemious in the sun. Large leg bones were smashed to surgically remove the nutritious marrow, and the numerous boiling pits excavated by archaeologists in marginal note to indicate these broken bones were plus boiled to render grease. Boiling was done by throwing red-hot rocks into conceal-lined pits filled behind water.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is related when human relic during the olden become olden and bears witness to a custom practised by the peoples of the North American plains for some 6,000 years. By its size, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump broadly outdistances analogous sites discovered in the 19th century in Europe, such as Solutr in France (slaughter of wild horses) or Vestonice in Czechoslovakia (slaughter of young person mammoths).