Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

Information

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is one of the largest bison hunting sites in North America and located in southwestern Alberta, Canada. Occupation and use of the site spans almost 6000 years. This site has pottery associated with bison butchering and processing camps that have been accurately dated to the Avonlea phase (Meyer and Walde 2009). Zarrillo (2008) has recovered maize starch grains from residues on a ceramic sample that is associated with butchered bones dating to approximately 1200 cal BP, though the organic residues on the ceramic sample date slightly later: approx. 947 cal BP.

ID Other ID Type Subtype Uncal BP (years) ± 1 σ (years) Median cal BP (years) Lower cal BP (years) Upper cal BP (years) δ13C Contaminated?
469 Beta-222822 MicroSample starch grain 1030 40 947 1055 800 No

Attached Files

Head-smashed-in_buffalo_jump
The view north along the top of the cliffs at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. Photo: Ken Thomas 2006, Wikipedia.Vista del norte a través de la cima de los acantilados en Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. Foto: Ken Thomas 2006, Wikipedia.

References Cited

Brink, J.
    2008    Imagining Head-Smashed-In: Aboriginal Buffalo Hunting on the Northern Plains. AU Press, Edmonton, AB.

Meyer, D. and D. Walde
    2009    Rethinking Avonlea: Pottery Wares and Cultural Phases. Plains Anthropologist 54(209):49-73.

Zarrillo, S.
    2008    The Amaizing Trace II: More on Precontact Maize in Alberta and the Canadian Plains. Lecture presented at the Archaeological Society of Alberta, Lethbridge, Alberta, February 5.