head-smashed-in buffalo jump

I’m a big fan of places with crazy names. I’ve always wanted to visit Zeal Monachorum in Devon, perhaps after stopping for tea in Nempnett Thrubwell, Somerset. I’m the guy who took a bus 8 hours north from Winnipeg just so I could say I had been to Flin Flon, Manitoba. And I love other Canadian names like Moose Factory, Sioux Lookout or Medicine Hat. But nothing we are to percieve in this world could match the nominative awesomeness of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump here in Alberta. Or as they say in French and Blackfoot

If you can’t be bothered to read the blurb then Head-Smashed-In is one of many buffalo jumps used by the Blackfoot first nation in this area. Rather than hunting them individually the Blackfoot struck upon the cunning plan to stampede them over a cliff. The logo for the centre gets the idea across quite nicely

Archaelogical evidence shows that it was in use for roughly 4000 years, right up until the 1870s when the buffalo herds were all but eradicated by the spread of European settlers and agriculture. That for me was the most profound part of the excellent interpretive center that’s built into the hillside. They showed accounts from the 18th and 19th centuries that commented on the massive bison herds that people thought would last for ever. Then within 20 years they were gone. Blackfoot society and culture was utterly dependent on the bison and in the space of one generation had to re-invent itself fundamentally in order to survive. Beyond that tragedy I couldn’t help thinking: what if our society was utterly dependent on a single natural resource and one day that ran out, what changes might we have to make, would we manage?

All in all it was well worth the 2 hour drive from Calgary. The weather was good and the scenery wonderful. The buffalo jump is right on the edge of the prairies to the east and the Rockies to the west. This is the main cliff over which the bison were stampeded.