|
Head- Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
Bruce Ricketts
(thanks to the
Glenbow Museum, Calgary)
The buffalo of Western Canada were nearly hunted to extinction by
the white men? Right?
That may be true but the altruistic view of the Canadian Natives as
only hunting for what they could use immediately or over the winter may
not be entirely true. The truth is that over time, the First
Nations changed their hunting techniques in a way that made the hunt
less "environmentally-friendly" than was previously. Countless millions of buffalo were killed,
en masse, by the First Nations, by driving entire herds (males,
females and young buffalo) over cliffs and harvesting them at the bottom
of the "buffalo jump".
The best known of the over 150 buffalo jumps in Alberta is the
"Head- Smashed-In Buffalo Jump" which is located just west of
Fort MacLeod.
For generations hunters used spears to hunt the
buffalo. The hunt would take place over
hundreds of square miles and could take weeks to harvest all the
kill. The hunt was selective, sparing calves and pregnant females.
As in the case in every culture, some people looked for a
better and more convenient way to plan the hunt. Some 6,000 years
ago, some wise man thought... "Why take the hunt to the
buffalo? Why not bring the buffalo to the hunt?" ... and that's just
what they did.
A buffalo jump was not as simple as just driving the buffalo to the
edge of a cliff. It was rather a complex task which required the
bosses to select the right area for the jump and the placement of logs and
trees or bushes at just the right locations so as to "funnel" the beasts
to the edge. Funneling could also be promoted by selecting a
runway bounded by hills and coulees (sharp dips in the land). The site was generally chosen
such that the precipice of the jump blended into the overall
scenery. This way it was too late for the lead buffalo to turn
around when he spotted the danger. The funneling effect also kept the
buffalo bunched up so that when the trailing buffalo learned of the fate of the
leaders it was too late to do anything about it (Sounds a bit like Canadian
politics!).
The buffalo ran to and over the edge, plummeted 10 meters or so
and met their makers. Those which did not die on impact were
slaughtered by spear.
Once the dust had settled the women and children moved in to join the
tasks of skinning, dressing and separating the meat.
Head- Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is designated as a World Heritage
Site by the United Nations (UNESCO).
Special note: Thanks to the keen eye of one of our
readers, an error in the original story has been fixed. According
to Julian Welch, horses and bow & arrow were not used during the
heyday of the buffalo jump. Thanks for pointing that out.
(See our story of Napi
- The Trickster, who split a rock near the Jump site.) |
