Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump (Estipah-skikikini-kots)
North America's best-preserved bison jump site, used by the Blackfoot for nearly six thousand years and listed as a World Heritage Site in 1981.
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump lies at the edge of the Porcupine Hills, about 18 km northwest of Fort Macleod. Blackfoot Plains peoples used the site for roughly 5,700 years. They drove herds of bison from the plateau to a sandstone cliff about 10 m high, where the animals fell and were butchered and processed at the base. The bone bed beneath the cliff is more than ten metres deep. It is the largest and best-preserved site of its kind in North America and has been a World Heritage Site since 1981. The five-level interpretive centre, built against the cliff, presents hunting methods, camp life and the significance of the bison to Plains culture, and a trail along the clifftop overlooks the grassland. Tickets cost about CA$15, and the site is open year-round; in winter it may close on Mondays and Tuesdays, so check the official website. You need a car, and the drive from Lethbridge takes about an hour. The clifftop is windy, so bring a jacket.
Opening hours
10:00–17:00 (extended in summer; some winter days closed)
Nearby sights
- Fort Macleod Historic Downtown
- Fort Museum of the North West Mounted Police
- Remington Carriage Museum
- Lethbridge Viaduct (High Level Bridge)
- Helen Schuler Nature Centre
- Indian Battle Park
- Fort Whoop-Up
- Galt Museum & Archives