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Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site in Alberta Canada, is possibly the oldest, largest and best preserved of the many buffalo jump sites across the Western Plains. This site preserves and interprets the significance of an ancient communal hunting ground used by the Plains People for nearly 6,000 years. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1981.
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 According to one of the Blackfoot oral traditions, a very young boy wanted to witness the plunge of countless buffalo as his people drove them over the sandstone cliff. Standing under the shelter of a ledge, he watched the great beasts fall past. The hunt was unusually good that day. As the bodies mounted, the child became trapped between the animals and the cliff. When his people came to do the butchering, they found the child with his skull crushed by the weight of the buffalo carcasses.
This is why they named the buffalo jump Head-Smashed-In. |
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Below: Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump Interpretive Center shown from a distances and at the entry. |
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 This is page one - Inside The Interpretive Center where the two RV Gypsies spent about 1-1/2 hours on a self-guided tour of the exhibits before going outside (which is page two on this site and can be reached through the link at the bottom of this page). Note: The two RV Gypsies did not eat any Buffalo served here or anywhere else.
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Below: Three of the many Blackfoot Legend Paintings done by school children, as explained in the sign below. |
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Below: The 3-section photo shown below was actually a video screen where a movie was showing about the ancient buffalo hunting culture and how the Plains People survived for more the 5,000 years before the arrival of the Europeans. It was really cool to watch because the pictures moved from left to right across the 2-section screen. |
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The Interpretive Center had buffaloes on the carpet and informative signs everywhere. |
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Signs and movies explained about the delicate ecology of the Northwestern Plain, the geography, climate and vegetation of the region, plus the lifestyle of the early Plains People, their rich culture including food gathering, ceremonies and family life. |
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Information was even displayed via lighting on big rocks throughout the Interpretive Center. Sometimes the words fell off the surface of the rock and could not be read. |
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Below: A full size tipi (teepee) on the first floor, and a replica of a tall cliff with some buffalo on top of the cliff about to fall off to their death. |
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Below: Buffalo on top of the cliff as seen from the first floor of the Interpretive Center, and as seen from the second floor. |
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