Site · Canada
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
Plains Archaic, 3800 BCE–1800 CE
Head-Smashed-In is a bison jump in the foothills of southern Alberta used for nearly six thousand years, where hunters drove herds over a sandstone cliff. It is among the oldest and best-preserved buffalo jumps and is interpreted with Blackfoot participation.
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| State / province | Alberta |
| Dates | 3800 BCE–1800 CE |
| Status | Provincial Historic Site and UNESCO World Heritage Site |
| Managed by | Alberta Culture and Status of Women |
| Access | Open to the public with an interpretive centre built into the cliff |
| Coordinates | 49.749, -113.624 (public site) |
What was found
Excavations at the base of the cliff found bison bone beds up to ten metres deep with Pelican Lake, Besant, Avonlea and Old Women's phase points, butchering tools, boiling pits and drive-lane cairns on the plateau above. Processing camps below the jump contain hearths, stone circles and thousands of broken bones.
Rules
Nothing may be collected, dug, moved or removed at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump; it is a protected archaeological site managed by Alberta Culture and Status of Women, and taking artifacts, stones or samples is an offence. Alberta's Historical Resources Act makes all archaeological objects the property of the Crown and prohibits removal. This article is for study and context only and is not a collecting locality.
Elsewhere
Cite this article
Stratum Study. "Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump" (Site). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/study/sites/head-smashed-in-buffalo-jump. Accessed 2026-09-21.
@misc{stratum-head-smashed-in-buffalo-jump,
title = {Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump},
author = {{Stratum Study}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/sites/head-smashed-in-buffalo-jump}},
year = {2026},
note = {Site article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, commons. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.