Hunters use Head-Smashed-In as a buffalo jump.
At the Head-Smashed-In site in what is now western Alberta, Canada, bands of early Indians come together for communal hunts, now called buffalo jumps. Popular buffalo jump sites such as Head-Smashed-In feature high cliffs. Groups of hunters initiate a buffalo stampede by screaming and chasing a frightened herd down a long drive toward the cliff and force the animals to run off the edge. Possibly annual events, successful jumps could provide hunters with hundreds of killed animals at one time. Near Head-Smashed-In is a designated area where people gather to strip the carcasses, remove the meat, and process the hides so that they can be used for clothing and shelter.
“At a signal, the hunters rose from their concealment, shouting and yelling, and waving robes to frighten the herd. Spears began to fall among the animals, and at once the bison began a wild stampede toward the south. . . . Animal after animal pressed from behind, spurred on by the shower of spears and the shouts of the Indians now in full pursuit. . . . In a matter of seconds, the arroyo was filled to overflowing with a writhing, bellowing mass of bison, forming a living bridge over which a few animals escaped.”
—archaeologist Joe Ben Wheat, describing a buffalo jump kill
A diorama depicting a buffalo jump on the northern Great Plains. By inciting a buffalo stampede and steering the rampaging animals over a cliff, early hunters could kill hundreds of buffalo at one time. (Courtesy of Montana Historical Society, Helena)
World History
