Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump - UNESCO World Heritage Site

Place: Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump

Weather: Sunny along with a few clouds, 55/78F

Route: From Regina 694 km west on Trans-Canada Highway and AB-3 W.

Significance: Although Bison were important to all Native Americans (called Aboriginal people in Canada) on the plains, nowhere is that relationship more dramatic than at this site.  For 5,500 years indigenous people used a 10 meter cliff to kill Bison.  During most of this time they didn't have horses - so they would run the bison down "drive lanes" to the highest point of the cliff. They would then finish off the Bison at the bottom of the cliff and prepare them for many uses (food, clothing, shelter etc).

Websites: UNESCO World Heritage Site, Canada Parks.

Images:

The Cliff (from pg.gc.ca)

Alfred Jacob Miller's "Buffalo Jump" painted in 1859-60 (from smithsonianmag.com)