Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in southern Alberta preserves one of North America’s best-known buffalo jumps and records about 5,500 years of large-scale bison hunting by Plains Indigenous peoples. Before horses, Blackfoot hunters drove herds from the Porcupine Hills through cairn-marked lanes to a cliff, where animals were forced over the edge and then finished below. Deep bone deposits and nearby camps show repeated use over millennia and reflect how bison sustained foodways, tools, clothing, shelter, and community life. Later recognized for its archaeological and cultural importance, the site became a National Historic Site, a Provincial Historic Site, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and now includes an interpretive centre shaped by Joe Crowshoe Sr.’s leadership.

Alberta · Canada