.All Trips / Alberta / Central Canada / North America

Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo Jump, A UNESCO World Heritage Site

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I like direct clear-spoken people, so you can see why Native American names appeal to me.  “Head-smashed-in-buffalo jump” was just that — a place buffalo were chased off a cliff and killed for food.  (An alternative legend has the place’s name originating from a careless young warrior at the jump’s base who had his noggin smashed in by the half ton mass of a falling bison).

Located 18 km northwest of Fort Macleod, Alberta, where the foothills of the Rocky Mountains meet the great plains, is one of the world’s oldest, largest, and best preserved buffalo jumps.  Head-Smashed-In has been a communal hunting site used by aboriginal peoples for almost 6,000 years (until abandoned in …

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