Buffalo Jumpš¦¬
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Alberta is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
History of the Modern Site [1]
Designated a National Historic Site - 1968
Designated a Provincial Heritage Site - 1979
Designated a World Heritage Site - 1981
Official opening of the Interpretive Centre with the Duke and Duchess of York - July 23, 1987 [2]
The architect, Robert LeBlond, received the 1990 Governor General's award for Architecture. [3]
The interpretive centre was built into the cliffs. You can read more about the architecture of this site from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architecture (CSLA).
The history of the site goes back about 6,000 years and has been the focus of several excavations, following the initial work of the American Junius Bird, who āvisited the site in 1938ā and Boyd Wettlaufer, who started āsystematic excavations of the site in 1949ā.[4] Several others continued to excavate, but Jack Brink, et al [5] carried out several seasons of excavations which started in 1983. The most recent archaeological report was published in 2023.[6] I wonāt go into the archaeological history but will provide the list of references below for those who may want to dig into it.āļø
Why I bring the archaeology up at all is because I felt the interpretive centre really did a great job in showing how the archaeological work was carried out on the site.
This is a really fantastic place to visit.[7] I felt the displays were particularly engaging. There is a lot to see.
Unfortunately, there was a heavy storm āļøwhile we were there so we didnāt venture out onto the hill site. Highly recommended! āāØ
[1] Taken from the provincial website - https://headsmashedin.ca/about-jump
[2] Red Crow, J. (1987) Royal Couple celebrates wedding anniversary at buffalo jump. Windspeaker Publication. Vol 5, Issue 11. https://www.ammsa.com/publications/windspeaker/royal-couple-celebrates-wedding-anniversary-buffalo-jump
[3] Robert LeBlond - Interview by Jim Donaldson (1997) https://www.mcgill.ca/architecture/alumni/aluminterviews/leblond
[4] Giering, Karen (2023) Stories from Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump: An interview with Boyd Wettlaufer. Archaeology on the brink: Papers in honour of John W. Brink. Archaeological Survey of Alberta, Occasional Paper No. 42, pp.12-22.
[5] Jack Brink, Robert J. Dawe and Susan Marshall (1987) Preliminary Report on the 1986 Field Season at Head-Smashed-In and Calderwood Buffalo Jumps. Archaeological Survey of Alberta, Occasional Paper No. 31, pp 44-78.
[6] Shawn Bubel, Robert J. Dawe, and Kevin McGeough (2023) The 2021 excavations at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, UNESCO World Heritage Site: Taking Jack Brinkās excavations to a new level. Archaeology on the brink: Papers in honour of John W. Brink. Archaeological Survey of Alberta, Occasional Paper No. 42.
[7] Adult fee to enter the Interpretive Centre is $15 (2025).
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Other Archaeological References
Brink, J.W., and Maureen Rollans (1986) Thoughts on the Structure and Function of Drive Lanes at Communal Bison Kill Sites. Paper presented at the World Archaeological Congress, Southampton.
Brink, J.W., M. Wright, B. Dawe, and D. Glaum
(1985) Final Report of the 1983 Season at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Alberta. Archaeological Survey of Alberta Manuscript Series No. 1. Alberta Culture, Edmonton.
(1986) Final Report of the 1984 Season at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Alberta. Archaeological Survey of Alberta, Manuscript Series No. 9. Alberta Culture, Edmonton.
Dawe, Bob and Jack Brink (1991) Preliminary Report of the 1988 and 1989 Field Seasons at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. Archaeological Survey of Alberta Occasional Paper No. 33. pp. 145-156.
Marshall, S., and J. Brink (1986) A Preliminary Test of the Calderwood Buffalo Jump (DkPj-27). In Archaeology in Alberta, 1985, compiled by John W. Ives, pp. 140-159. Archaeological Survey of Alberta Occasional Paper No. 29. Alberta Culture, Edmonton.
Reeves, Brian O.K. (1985) The Head-Smashed-In Drive Lane/Kill Complex. Report on file, Archaeological Survey of Alberta. Edmonton.
Rollans, M. (1986) A Preliminary Formal and Functional Analysis of the Drive Lane System at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. Unpublished manuscript on file, Archaeological Survey of Alberta, Edmonton.
Wright, M., and J.W. Brink (1986) Preliminary Report of the Results of the 1985 Field Season at Head-Smashed-In. In Archaeology in Alberta, 1985, compiled by John W. Ives, pp. 130-139. Archaeological Survey of Alberta Occasional Paper No. 29. Alberta Culture, Edmonton.
Wright, M., B. Dawe, D. Glaum, and J. Brink (1985) Preliminary Results from the 1984 Field Season at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. In ArChe010~ in Alberta, 1984, compiled by D. Burley, pp. 81-101. Archaeologica1 Survey of Alberta Occasional Paper No. 25. Alberta Culture, Edmonton.
