For thousands of years, North American Indians hunted bison.
They rely on bison for every aspect of their lives:
Meat can be eaten directly to fill the stomach; bison skin can also be used for clothing, shelter and bedding; bison hair and tail can be used to make rope brushes and fly brushes; hard bison tendons begin to make threads, glue and bow strings; and bones and horns are used to make a variety of tools for daily use.
So, for a long time, Indians lived in pursuit of bison migrations.
Because bison is so important to them.
But in order to provide the tribe with plenty of food, clothing, and shelter, large-scale hunting had to be carried out.
But the bison was a very large animal, and when it was slightly frightened, it ran like crazy.
To exhaust the physical strength of a bison and then kill it is obviously an inefficient way to hunt.
I don't know when they came up with a hunting method called "bison jumping".
That is, a group of indigenous people, through a pre-organized plan, drove the bison to the edge of a high cliff and finally let it fall to its death.
A single "bison jump" can provide food and clothing for the entire village for the coming months.
The first task of the "Bison Jump" is to find the right cliff.
The best places to jump high are those pastures, starting with good pastures, gradually leaning towards the edges, and ending up on steep cliffs about twenty feet or more high.
Once such a location is found, locals begin to lay out the terrain by piling up amplified piles of rocks and stumps on a V-shaped path, with a focus on the cliffs.
A man covers himself in the skin of a bison calf and tries to lure the herd into the entrance of the trap.
People in disguise would often shout to attract the attention of the herds and then begin to move towards the cliff.
As the buffalo approached, other hunters hiding behind the rocks would jump up and shout and wave their hides to keep the bison inside the "v", while the other group would intimidate the herd from behind.
As the buffalo stomp towards the edge of the cliff, the animals in front see the fall and try to stop.
But the enormous weight of the herd of cattle pressed from behind will force the buffalo to cross the cliff, and finally the bison will fall down the cliff like dumplings.
Bison that are killed or unable to move will immediately begin to be skinned.
This is a technical breeding task, while fresh meat will be eaten, but most will be dried and stored for later use.
The huge leg bones will be crushed into the rich bone marrow inside, while the bones will be boiled to extract the fat.
The process of slaughtering, skinning and smoking will last for weeks, and by then the locals will have plenty of dried meat and raw skins that can be made into clothes, including bedding, shirts, coats, pouches, shelters, etc.
It is worth mentioning that the Indians do not waste any part of the bison.
This hunting is dating back 12,000 years and continued until at least 1500 AD.
Until horses were brought into the Americas, the Indians could use horses and better hunting tools to track their bison herds and hunt fresh meat year round.
In autumn, there are no large public hunts.
Archaeologists have found dozens of "bison jump" sites in North America, some of which have found remains.
For example, we can clearly see from the pictures those carefully designed guidance routes and deep archaeological sediments.
The cliffs themselves are about 300 meters long, while the drop is around 10 meters.
These sites, where there is even evidence that they were used at least 6,000 years ago, have found bone deposits up to 12 meters deep.