Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a kill site located in southwestern Alberta, in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. It is located about 18 kilometers NW of Fort McLeod, Alberta. Aboriginal people would use the cliffs to drive herds of buffalo off to their demise. Head-Smashed-In is a site that had been used on and off for the last 5,700 years. This site is very important in that it gives a very extensive explanation of an ancient way of life.
Ancient people would create "drive lanes" to the cliff. These lanes were made up of rocks, sticks, bushes, or anything that could be piled together to form markers. These markers were placed every 100 feet or so. Young men from the tribe would dress up as wolves or coyotes and corral the buffalo into these chutes. They would then run the buffalo through the drive lanes to the cliff where they would run over the edge. For a successful kill, the wind had to be blowing in the right direction so as not to alert the buffalo to the danger of the cliff and the young men acting like wolves had to be patient.
Head-Smashed-In is a unique site as it was discovered
in almost pristine condition. Bone and tool beds were found as deep as 11
meters at the bottom of these cliffs. Archaeologists, using Radio-carbon
dating, have determined that the bones are between 200 and 5,700 years old. The
oldest evidence of humans at Head-Smashed-In are two Scottsbluff spear points.
These spearpoints date back 9,000 years.
Although it has not been used in the last 150 years, the Blackfoot Indian Nation had used it for a kill site for many thousands of years. Head-Smashed-In is a very important spiritual place to the Blackfoot people. To this day only Blackfoot can give the interpretive tours to save the culture and to give authenticity to this place.
Image Credit http://www.head-smashed-in.com/archaeol.html