2. Buffalo Jumps Buffalo jumping is communal hunting. Long before they had the horse, the gun, or even the bow, Plains tribes hunted the buffalo, driving herds to their death over cliffs.

3. The “Hows” of a Buffalo Jump 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. 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 behaviors.

4. The “Hows” of a Buffalo Jump 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 the ridges, crossing coulees and rising across the tops of high hills. Near the cliff areas of the drive lanes, people hid behind brush stuck into the cairns and prevented the beasts from straying by shouting and waving buffalo hides.

5. The “Hows” of a Buffalo Jump Hunters rushed from behind, panicking the animals into a thundering headlong plunge over the cliffs. After falling, many buffalo were only stunned or wounded. Hunters waited below the cliff to kill the surviving beasts. The kill brought a surplus of meat to families and clans participating. The people dried the meat, made pemmican, extracted fat from the bones, made tools, and tanned hides. Almost every part of the animal was used.

6. Pemmican Some of the meat was made into pemmican by first sun-drying it, then pulverizing the dried meat with a stone maul and mixing this with buffalo fat. To add flavor to pemmican, fruit such as chokecherries or saskatoon berries was added. The mixure was then placed in a “parfleche”, a rawhide container, and pounded to remove all air from the food. This mixture, when carefully prepared, remain edible for many years.

7. Buffalo Jumps more than simply stampeding a herd over a cliff required planning, coordinating, and orchestrating “delicate art”

8. Meriwether Lewis journal, 1805: "one of the most active and fleet young men is selected and disguised in a robe of buffalo skin... he places himself at a distance between a herd of buffalo and a precipice proper for the purpose; the other Indians now surround the herd on the back and flanks and at a signal agreed on all show themselves at the same time moving forward towards the buffalo; the disguised Indian or decoy has taken care to place himself sufficiently near the buffalo to be noticed by them when they take to flight and running before them they follow him in full speed to the precipice; the Indian (decoy) in the mean time has taken care to secure himself in some cranny in the cliff... the part of the decoy I am informed is extremely dangerous.”

9. Buffalo jumps are more than simply stampeding a herd over a cliff… it required planning, coordinating, and orchestrating. It was “delicate art.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg0we0UCeps

12. Famous Buffalo Jumps Sites to Visit Head-Smashed-In (Alberta, Canada) Dry Island (Canada) Ulm Pishkun (Montana) Madison Buffalo Jump (Montana) Glenrock (Wyoming) Vore (Wyoming) Too Close For Comfort (Wyoming) Big Goose Creek (Wyoming) Bonfire Shelter (Texas) Cibolo Creek (Texas) Olsen-Chubbuck Bison (Colorado) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Kg0we0UCeps

13. Buffalo Pishkun The Spectacular Buffalo Pishkun Diorama

14. The Museum had numerous highly-detailed dioramas during the 1950s -70s, illustrating various scenes from Montana history. The use of forced perspective to create the illusion of depth was utilized to great effect in most of the dioramas. Two photos of Gardell Dano Christensen (1907-1991) working on the buffalo jump diorama, 1952. State budget constraints forced Christensen to leave the MHS in early 1953. The diorama was completed by artist Leslie H. Peters.

15. It is true that various Plains Indians would occasionally chase buffalo over a small cliff, but Miller probably never saw this scene and therefore exaggerated it a bit. The Indians, when they found a suitable bluff, would conceal themselves behind the rocks with hides. When the herd would start to move towards the bluff, the Indians would jump up from behind their rocks, shouting and waving the hides, keeping the buffalo moving toward the cliff. In later versions of this picture, Miller exaggerated the cliff even more. Had the Indians driven buffalo over such precipices, the meat would have been too badly smashed to eat and the bones would have been broken. Alfred Jacob Miller -1858

16. Paleo-Indians did not have horses. Allen and Patty Eckman create high-detail caste paper sculptures. They put their knowledge of buffalo jumps and created unique art work. This 7′ x 5′ (one-sixth) life- size format depicts a buffalo hunt with five hunters, thirteen buffalo, and four women and children, but their buffalo jump is with the horse. Paleo-Indians did not have horses.