Educating Risa

Shortly after returning from our roughly 1400km (900 miles) dinosaur tour of SE Alberta and SW Saskatchewan—a tour I am glad we made when we did, as the region has received torrential rains and has flooded badly, washing out sections of the Trans-Canada highway:

The town of Maple Creek, SK, which we went through, had major flooding, as did the city of Medicine Hat, AB, which is still under a state of emergency.

Anyways, shortly after our return, the boys and I made another long-distance trip (350kms / just over 200 miles) to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, where we met up with another homeschooling family. Buffalo jumps were widely used by aboriginal peoples on the prairies / great plains / grasslands, and involved killing buffalo—which they depended on for food, shelter, clothing, and more—by driving them over cliffs.

Head-Smashed-In is a superb interpretive centre—another of Alberta’s sites designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO—and built right into the side of the cliff once used as a buffalo jump. The centre (and cliff) is 6 stories high. Curious how this area got its name? Here’s the sign that greets you in the parking lot:

The left-hand text of which reads: “In the 1800s, according to legend, a young brave wanted to witness the plunge of buffalo as his people drove them to their deaths over the cliffs. Standing under the shelter of a ledge, he watched the great beasts fall past him. The hunt was unusually good that day. As the bodies mounted, he became trapped between the animals and cliff. When his people came to do butchering, they found him with his skull crushed by the weight of buffalo carcasses. Thus, they named the place “Head-Smashed-In.”

Archaeological evidence indicates that this site was used by Aboriginal people for at least 5700 years [in other words, a site older than the pyramids in Egypt], making it among the oldest, largest, and best preserved of the many buffalo jump sites on the western plains.

In 1981, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump was designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization [UNESCO].”

Upon entering the interpretive centre, you see this:

and are given instructions as to the suggested order in which to tour the site. They suggest you watch a film about how the buffalo jump was used—as I had read elsewhere that this film is disturbingly realistic, the boys opted to skip it—and then proceed to the top of the centre and work back down. This site and field trip in general was a challenge for my young vegetarians, but it helped them understanding other cultures, other choices, and led some great discussion about how animals were used then (hardly anything was wasted, and thanks was given to the buffalo for giving their lives so the people could live) vs. today (another factory-farmed Big Mac, please!), as well as the difference between choice and necessity.

The boys, with their palaeontological leanings, quite enjoyed the display with the buffalo skeleton, and the lift-the-flap quiz asking you to identify the bone fragments:

They also liked the infant and doll carriers, and learning what was used for diapers back then (moss stuffed into the baby carrier):

We then headed, as suggested, to the top of the centre, and outside along the cliff top where the buffalo were driven over (you can still see the cairns—rock piles—used as drive lanes). The view is incredible:

That’s the Oldman River valley in the distance, one of the few areas with trees in these grasslands, and where the Blackfoot would make their winter camps. In the very far distance, along the horizon, you can just make out some of the many wind turbines in this part of Alberta. Many folks know Alberta is blessed with oil and natural gas deposits, but we also have many wind farms in this SW corner of the province.

The cliffs. Note the school group on the pathway below to give you a sense of scale:

In contrast to the above photo, which looks NE, this is the view to the SW—the Rocky Mountains. Yeah, we’re kind of spoiled for stunning landscapes in this province.

 

We then headed back inside, where we bumped into a school group listening to a Blackfoot guide giving part of a tour. We tagged along, and learned some interesting tidbits, like that teepee poles were not transported from camp to camp; they were left for the next group. We also learned that First Nations peoples travelled far and wide, and traded with one another, as tools made from stone found in the Dakotas and Minnesota has been found on site here:

Before video games and television; these marked buffalo bones were used for games of chance and gambling.

The boys checking out some hands-on displays:

Then we came to their favourite display, which was mine too when I toured this site with some visiting relatives more than a decade ago:

It explains how various parts of the buffalo were used, including buffalo horns carved into drinking cups, or used to carry hot coals; small bone splinters used for awls for sewing; decorated buffalo skulls used in sundance ceremonies; sinew used for sewing and binding; bladder bags (number 13 in the pic) used to store fat in a tightly sealed containers, allowing this important food source to be preserved for long times (Aboriginal tupperware!); and buffalo chips (dried dung) burned as a fuel source—a vital element to surviving the cold winters on these northern grasslands where trees are few.

We also skipped the very end of the interpretive centre, where the destruction of the buffalo at the hands of the white man was accomplished in a few short years. Shocking, really, when the Blackfoot and other First Nations peoples killed them in huge numbers, but never to the point of (near) extinction.

After a quick lunch break, we met up with the other homeschooling family for a walk outside:

Here’s the cliffs as they appear from below:

You could see many cliff swallow nests, as well as poop stains:

Daegan found the archaeological information quite interesting. As close as it got to palaeontology for this site, I suppose. Note the teepees in the background:

Interpretive sign about the archaeological site, and how—among other things—dating can be done by examining the type and shape of arrowheads found:

Of course, other things caught the kids’ interests, like this caterpillar:

And here’s the boys looking for more bugs. Makes me wonder if Blackfoot brothers did the same thing in this very spot, hundreds of years ago.