For 60 centuries, the Blackfoot have used this site to harvest buffalo by running herds off the 10 meter cliff at the site, immobilizing them so they could be easily killed and butchered. Until the arrival of Europeans, the Blackfoot had no horses, so had to hunt on foot. Having a site of this nature made their hunts much easier and much more productive.
Though the site made a natural place to drive buffalo to their deaths over a cliff, the natives made some additions and improvements, creating lanes, defined by stone cairns, which narrowed as they approached the cliff, forcing the buffalo to a small portion of the cliff over which they fell.
The foot of the cliff, where they butchered the buffalo, made for a perfect campsite, as it also provided fresh water, while the cliff itself provided both their food and protection from the wind.
An old Blackfoot legend tells of a young Blackfoot who wanted to watch the buffalo run off the cliff from below and was buried by the falling herd. When uncovered, the young warrior was found dead with his head smashed in.
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is an archaeological site known around the world as a remarkable testimony of the life of the Plains People through the millennia. The Jump bears witness to a method of hunting practiced by native people of the North American plains for nearly 6,000 years.
Due to their excellent understanding of the regional topography and bison behaviour, native people hunted bison by stampeding them over a precipice. They then carved up the carcasses and dragged the pieces to be butchered and processed in the butchering camp set up on the flats beyond the cliffs.
In 1981, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump as a World Heritage Site placing it among other world heritage monuments such as the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge and the the Galapagos Islands.
• The hunt began with a spiritual ceremony in which medicine women
and men would go through detailed rituals to ensure a safe and
successful hunt.
• During the ceremonies, the ‘buffalo runners’were sent to locate and
herd the animals.These were young men who possessed skill to move
the bison herds.
• The buffalo runners, disguised under animal hides, would pass near
the herds and try to lure them toward the cliffs, using their intricate
knowledge of buffalo behavior.
• Ingenious V-shaped drive lanes were used to channel herds to the most
dangerous point on the cliffs.These lanes were edged with rows of stone
cairns which are still visible today.The lanes snake their way across the
countryside, following ridges, crossing coulees and rising across the tops
of high hills.
• Near the cliff area of the drive lanes, people hid behind brush stuck
into the cairns and prevented the beasts from straying by shouting
and waving buffalo hides. Hunters rushed from behind, panicking the
animals into a thundering headlong plunge over the cliff.
From History Alberta